2.9 Million Forced Off Their Medicare Advantage Plan

One in ten.

A Johns Hopkins study in JAMA counted 2.9 million Medicare Advantage enrollees who lost their 2025 plan for 2026 because the plan quit their county or ended the contract. Another 25.8 million could keep theirs. From 2018 through 2024, that forced-exit rate averaged about 1%. It jumped to 6.9% in 2025. In 2026 it hit 10%.

Rural counties got hit harder. So did people on PPOs and on smaller carriers. In twelve states, more than 20% of Medicare Advantage members had to move. In Vermont it was 92%.

Medicare open enrollment starts October 15. Millions will shop again because the plan moved, not because they wanted a better one.

I am not shocked. A plan is a product a company can pull. A doctor is a person who either stays or does not. When the product leaves the county, the patient inherits the paperwork, the new network hunt, and the chance their doctor is gone with the plan.

I am not anti-insurance. Keep a policy for the wreck. I am against building everyday doctor access on a contract that can vanish between Octobers. Direct care keeps the relationship on a monthly fee you both agreed to. The number on the door is the number you pay. The plan can leave. The doctor does not have to.

2.9 million is not a benefit update. It is a forced move.

Source: JAMA, Meiselbach et al., Medicare Advantage plan exits, 2026: jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2845237