Medicare Advantage Rates Expected To Climb Over 5% In 2026, Easing Pressure On Managed Care

On Monday, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its 2026 payment update for Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans.

Government payments to Medicare Advantage plans are expected to rise by an average of 5.06% from 2025 to 2026. That’s 2.83 percentage points higher than what was estimated in a previous notice.

The new effective growth rate is 9.04%, up from the earlier estimate of 5.93%.

The increase comes from updated data on traditional Medicare (fee-for-service) spending. This includes figures from late 2024 that weren’t available when the earlier notice was published.

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