New report: Medicare Advantage enrollment depicts industry at a crossroads, with concentrated growth and retrenchment

Enrollment slows as market resets under new economic realities. 

CHICAGO, Feb. 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthScape Advisors, a leading healthcare payer consulting firm, today announced the release of its annual 2026 Medicare Advantage competitive enrollment report. The report is a collaboration between Chartis and HealthScape Advisors, a Chartis Company.

The Medicare Advantage market grew by 900,000 total beneficiaries to 35.4 million in PY2026, with enrollment rising 2.5% year over year, down from 3.6% in 2025 and 3.9% in 2024. This continued deceleration comes as many organizations intentionally scale back membership to prioritize margin for financial sustainability in a challenging regulatory and operating environment. Many are narrowing geographic footprints and reducing benefit richness. 

Expectations about market-wide enrollment are mixed for PY2027, but the long-term outlook remains positive. 77% of Medicare Advantage leaders expect the market will hold steady or continue to grow but at a lower rate than previous years.

"We continue to see sustained moderation in growth year over year as Medicare Advantage experiences a period of recalibration and some for-profit organizations reevaluate their participation," said Alexis Levy, HealthScape Senior Partner and report co-author. "Despite slowed market growth, the majority of plan executives express optimism about the future of Medicare Advantage over the next five years."

"Even as some plans retreat from certain markets and rethink benefit design, long-term confidence in the Medicare Advantage marketplace remains intact," said Nick Herro, Senior Partner in Strategic Transformation at Chartis and report co-author. "To remain competitive in this shrinking environment, plans are refining their growth strategy toward more predictable, targeted segments, like Special Needs Plans (SNPs)."

The report explores key themes and takeaways changing the Medicare Advantage market, including:

• Enrollment trends: Medicare Advantage enrollment rose 2.5% year over year, down from 3.6% in 2025, signaling a more constrained growth environment. Humana and a small subset of other challengers captured most net gains, benefiting from pullbacks by United and Aetna.
• SNP enrollment: SNP enrollment jumped 12.2%, outpacing the broader market. Chronic Condition SNPs (C-SNP) continued to surge with 49% growth, as plans like Devoted, CareSource, and Molina gained traction.
• Plan options and preferences: Total plan offerings fell 2.5% for the third straight year, driven by cuts to non-SNPs and a 10% drop in PPOs. Despite fewer plan offerings, enrollment patterns remained relatively stable.
• Quality ratings: While average Star Ratings held steady, two-thirds of members (67.2%) are now enrolled in 4+ star plans, down sharply from roughly 80% earlier in the decade.

To view the full report, including the analytic methodology, click here.

About HealthScape Advisors
Every payer strives for better. At HealthScape Advisors, we help them achieve it. We partner with payers to deliver better member experiences, build better provider partnerships, and realize better health outcomes. We work with health plans and payers, ancillary and specialty health organizations, and healthcare investors and innovators to accelerate strategic growth; advance care quality, accessibility, and affordability; optimize operations; communicate with purpose and unlock the power of data. Our expertise across thousands of projects means we understand the landscape like no one else. When payers want meaningful results, they turn to HealthScape Advisors—the specialist who'll help them get to better. Learn more at www.healthscape.com.

About Chartis
The challenges facing US healthcare are longstanding and all too familiar. We are Chartis, and we believe in better. We work with more than 1,900 organizations annually to develop and activate transformative strategies, operating models, and organizational enterprises that make US healthcare more affordable, accessible, safe, and human. With more than 1,450 professionals, we help providers, payers, technology innovators, retail companies, and investors create and embrace solutions that tangibly and materially reshape healthcare for the better. Our family of brands—Chartis, Jarrard, Greeley, and HealthScape Advisors—is 100% focused on healthcare and each has a longstanding commitment to helping transform healthcare in big and small ways. Learn more. Chartis. Believe in better.

SOURCE The Chartis Group