CMS posts February 2026 Medicare data; enrollment breaks 70M; Advantage breaks 51% of total market

via Wikipedia:

Medicare Advantage (technically "Medicare Part C" & originally called "Medicare+Choice") is a type of health plan in the United States offered by private companies as part of the original Social Security Act of 1965 that created Medicare. It permits a private insurance option that wraps around traditional Medicare. Medicare Advantage plans attempt to fill some coverage gaps and offer alternative coverage options.

Under Part C, Medicare pays a plan operator a fixed payment for each enrollee. The operator then pays for their medical expenses. Traditional Medicare directly compensates providers on a fee-for-service basis. Plans are offered by integrated health delivery systems, labor unions, non profit charities, and health insurance companies, which may limit enrollment to specific groups of people (such as union members).

Medicare Part C/Advantage only covered around 2.8% of total Medicare enrollment as of 1986, then gradually grew to around 18% by 1999. After that it dropped off before growing again to cover roughly 1 out of 4 Medicare enrollees as of 2010, when the Affordable Care Act was passed. Since then, it has grown to the point that as of a year or so ago it crossed the 50% threshold, making it the default choice of Medicare enrollees.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) just published updated enrollment data for Medicare, adding February 2026 to the data archive.

Whether the data posted since the Trump 2.0 Regime took power is accurate or not, I can't say for certain, but at least they're updating it...and so far, at least, I don't see anything in their monthly reports which is setting off any obvious red flags.

According to the latest report, as of February 2026:

• Total Medicare beneficiaries broke 70 million, up just 6.8K month over month (technically total enrollment broke 70 million in January, although the preliminary data at the time had it slightly below that).

• Traditional/FFM Medicare beneficiaries are at 34.18 million (down ~152K m/m)

• Medicare Advantage beneficiaries are at 35.87 million (up ~159K m/m)

• 11.75 million Medicare enrollees (16.8% of the total) were "Dual Eligibles"...that is, enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. Dual eligibles have seen a sharp drop over the past year, falling by nearly half a million people since July 2025.

• Likely related: The number of Medicare enrollees under the age of 65 has actually dropped by more than 500,000 people since December alone.

Here's how Medicare Advantage enrollment has grown (and how traditional "Fee for Service" Medicare has shrunk) over time:

It's also worth noting that, given the Musk/Trump Admin's obsession with erasing any reference or data regarding gender, race or ethnicity, the Medicare enrollment reports still include breakouts of those demographic factors.