July 8, 2026
A study supported by ARC finds that beneficiaries who disenroll from Medicare Advantage have substantially higher costs than those who remain enrolled, and about 30% higher than what insurers would have been paid had those beneficiaries stayed in Medicare Advantage.
However, because Medicare Advantage disenrollment has fallen to just 1% of enrollees, the financial impact of this selective disenrollment only increases total federal Medicare Advantage spending by 0.6%. This is small relative to other drivers of Medicare Advantage costs to the federal government, particularly favorable selection at enrollment and coding intensity.
The findings nonetheless support policy changes to account for selective disenrollment when setting Medicare Advantage benchmarks.
Read the full study in Health Affairs Scholar.