View Policy Brief

11/2023

This policy brief continues the RUPRI Center's annual series of Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment updates. In addition to tracking overall and nonmetropolitan/metropolitan MA enrollment, this brief also reports on changes in enrollment in types of MA plans. The Center's ongoing line of inquiry also considers policy changes from previous years that may have impacted MA plan enrollment. More MA plans are being offered in 2023 than in any other year, indicating the appeal of this program for insurers throughout the country.

Key Findings:

• As of March 2023, 53.9 percent of metropolitan Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in MA plans. At the current rate of growth, MA plans are projected to enroll a majority of nonmetropolitan beneficiaries in two years.
• Overall MA enrollment grew by 7.7 percent (2.2 million) from 2022 to 2023; the rate of growth continues to be higher in nonmetropolitan counties (10.5 percent) than in metropolitan counties (7.2 percent).
• The percentage of nonmetropolitan MA enrollees in Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plans increased slightly from 37.8 percent in 2022 to 38.1 percent in 2023, while the proportion of metropolitan beneficiaries enrolled in such plans decreased from 61.4 percent in 2022 to 59.6 percent in 2023.
• Enrollment in Local Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans increased in both nonmetropolitan (from 51.5 percent to 54.2 percent) and metropolitan counties (from 35.6 percent to 38.1 percent) between 2022 and 2023.

Rapid Response to Requests for Rural Data Analysis, RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis

Edmer Lazaro, Fred Ullrich, Keith Mueller

Aging, Care management, Health reform, Health services, Medicare Advantage (MA), Rural statistics and demographics