Record Lows and Highs for Medicare Advantage and PDPs by Mark Farrah Associates

May 5, 2026

MCMURRAY, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Medicare Advantage (MA) market penetration remains strong; however, the growth rate has slowed to a record low, of 2.4%; while Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) enrollment soared to its highest growth rate level since 2013, according to a new analysis by Mark Farrah Associates, www.markfarrah.com. The company assessed Medicare Advantage (MA), including MA with a Prescription Drug Plan (MA-PD), and stand-alone Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) performance, market share and market penetration by state as of April 1, 2026. Total MA membership stood at 35.5 million and Medicare stand-alone PDPs covered 24.9 million members.

Key highlights include:

• Over half, 51.8%, of people eligible for Medicare have decided on Medicare Advantage plans (MA), up from 51.6% in April of 2025.
• According to CMS’s MA reports, aggregated by Mark Farrah Associates (MFA) in Medicare Business Online™, total MA enrollment increased only 2.4% from April 2025, down from 3.8% between April 2025 and April 2024, and 6.4% between April 2024 and April 2023.
• Devoted Health and Scan Health joined the list of top MA organizations in 2026. Together, the top three insurers, UnitedHealth, Humana and CVS Health, cover 57.4% of the MA market, a slight increase of 0.2% from last year.
• Stand-alone prescription drug plans’ (PDPs’), also referred to as Medicare Part D plans, enrollment increased by roughly 1.8 million enrollees, 7.8%, from April 2025. This is the highest increase in PDP members and year-over-year growth rates since 2013. PDP plans provide prescription drug coverage for over 36% of the people eligible for Medicare.
• Centene, CVS, UnitedHealth, Humana, and Health Care Service Corp (HCSC) are the top five PDP companies and currently cover 91.3% of the market.

Many companies conduct their post-OEP (Open Enrollment Period) competitive assessments by using tools such as Mark Farrah Associates’ (MFA) Medicare Business Online™ and Health Coverage Portal™ to evaluate any changes in their market standings.

To read the FREE full text of “Record Growth Rates for Medicare Advantage Plans (Lowest) & PDPs (Highest)", visit the Analysis Briefs library on Mark Farrah Associates' website.

About Mark Farrah Associates (MFA)

Mark Farrah Associates (MFA) is a leading data aggregator and publisher providing health plan market data and analysis tools for the healthcare industry. MFA’s Medicare Business Online™ (MBO) product simplifies the tracking of monthly Medicare Advantage and PDP enrollment by competitor. The Medicare Benefits Analyzer™ presents benefit copay comparisons across hundreds of benefit attributes by plan as reported in the Plan Finder on Medicare.gov. MFA also offers Med Supp market data enrollment and financial insights for companies interested in Medicare Supplement business. Committed to simplifying analysis of health insurance business, our products also include: Health Coverage Portal™, County Health Coverage™, Health Plans USA™ and 5500 Employer Health Plus. Follow us on LinkedIn!