More than 3 million Medicare Advantage enrollees must find new plans as 2027 open enrollment begins
Medicare Advantage open enrollment for 2027 coverage began Thursday, with nearly 3.2 million enrollees — roughly 11% of the market — needing to find new plans because their current policies are being terminated. The disruption marks the third consecutive year of significant upheaval in the Medicare Advantage market, driven largely by medical costs outpacing federal reimbursements. Open enrollment runs through December 7.
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Medicare Advantage, which covers just over half of Medicare's approximately 71 million enrollees, is undergoing its third year of significant market changes as insurers overhaul their plan offerings. According to Medicare Market Insights founder Jared Strock, the number of enrollees losing their plans has increased steadily — from about 1%–2% in prior years, to roughly 2 million for 2025, 2.9 million for 2026, and now nearly 3.2 million for 2027.
Major insurers — including Humana, UnitedHealthcare, CVS' Aetna, and several Blue Cross and Blue Shield carriers — are among those discontinuing plans or pulling out of geographic areas, according to Strock, who reviewed Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data. Many of the canceled plans are preferred provider organization, or PPO, policies, which provide more flexibility and out-of-network coverage. Despite the plan reductions, the average beneficiary will still have 28 Medicare Advantage plans with prescription drug coverage available — though that is down from a high of 36 plans in 2024, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group.
The changes are not distributed evenly across the country. Some 638,000 people in 193 counties will have no Medicare Advantage plans available at all for 2027, up from 399,000 people in 123 counties for 2026, per KFF. Rural residents are more likely to see insurers withdraw, while those in the Southeast typically retain a wider range of choices, said Haitham Aly, a principal at Oliver Wover Wyman consulting firm. "There are some states where there's minimal disruption," Aly said. "There are other states where there are a lot more drastic changes happening."