Americans enrolled in private Medicare Advantage plans continued to grow from 2025 to 2026 but at a slower pace as nearly all health insurers, including UnitedHealth (UNH) and CVS Health (CVS), pulled back from the market, Stat News reported, citing new federal data.
As of Feb. 1, approximately 35.5M Americans were enrolled in Medicare Advantage, a government-funded healthcare program that mainly caters to older adults and people with disabilities. That indicates nearly 3% growth from last year, when there were roughly 34.4M MA enrollments.
Historically, MA annual enrollment growth stood at 7%–10% between 2017 and 2024. Stat reported adding that the annual enrollment period, which runs from October 15 to December 7 each year, showed only a 1% increase in MA enrollments in 2025.
According to the analysis, nearly all health insurers cut their enrollments, while Humana (HUM) increased its numbers.
UnitedHealth (UNH) is the largest operator in the MA market, followed by Humana (HUM). CVS Health’s (CVS) Aetna unit, Clover Health (CLOV), and Alignment Healthcare (ALHC) are among other players in the MA market.