Medicare Advantage Plan Closures Are Mounting 

Going. Going. Gone! 

Medicare Advantage plans are popular, with more than half of all eligible Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in them in 2026, according to KFF. People like their lower up-front costs and the fact that they bundle Part A, Part B and (usually) Part D prescription drug coverage into a single plan managed by a private insurer. But not everyone who wants to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan can do so, however, and an increasing number of people are finding themselves in counties without a single option listed for 2027. Sixty-seven US counties currently have no general-enrollment Medicare Advantage plans listed for next year after having at least one in 2026, according to a new analysis published by MoneyGeek. That brings the projected total to 181 counties — many but not all of them rural — that won’t have any Medicare Advantage plans next year. 

It’s a bummer for fans of Medicare Advantage who may soon be missing out, but the good news is that people still have options even if their current plan shuts down. They can join another Medicare Advantage plan if one is available, and if not, they will automatically return to original Medicare. 

Bye Bye Bye 

The disappearance of Medicare Advantage plans is driven primarily by economic factors. The plans are run by private, for-profit corporations rather than the federal government, and companies are exiting counties outright or dropping unprofitable plans. Major carriers like Humana and UnitedHealthcare are cutting losses, per Washington Post reporting. 

MoneyGeek’s research gets into the specifics: 

• Up to 2.9 million (about 13.5%) general-enrollment Medicare Advantage members whose plans are closing next year live in a county without any successor plans identified for 2027.
• It’s a more acute problem in rural areas, where about one in five members have no options for 2027, compared with one in eight in metro areas.

Minnesota has the largest share of beneficiaries affected, where some 342,000 members will soon see their Medicare Advantage options disappear, according to the research. 

Because more people are using care and costs are rising, Medicare Advantage options are likely to continue to disappear, said Nathan Paulus, head of marketing and brand partnerships at MoneyGeek. Advisors in rural markets should take particular care to inform clients about their options. 

What Now? Those losing their Medicare Advantage plans will be automatically enrolled in original Medicare. They still have to sign up for a separate Medicare Part D plan to cover prescription drugs, and failing to do so can result in many thousands of dollars of extra costs, Paulus warned. Likewise, if a client’s Medicare Advantage plan was terminated, they will receive special federal or state rights to buy a Medigap policy without health underwriting.