CMS sees the registration in Medicare advertisor in 2026

Registration in Medicare Advantage is about to fall for the first time in almost two decades, according to the centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The agency estimates that the program registration will be 34 million in 2025 – marking less than half of all the elderly – against almost 35 million this year, according to projections of health insurers.

Despite the planned decline, the agency announced on Friday evening that it “provides that registration in (Medicare Advantage) in 2026 will be more robust than” projections of plans “and that the market will remain stable. The elders will see that they have on average 10 plans to choose on most markets when they obtain their first preview of the 2026 plans on Wednesday.

After hunting the growth of the Medicare market for more than a decade, health insurers had to face the reduction in profits in their health insurance programs in the last two years, as members had higher medical costs than expected and new regulations put pressure on government reimbursement rates. The biggest insurers now reduce non -profitable plans and completely leave certain markets.

“We note that most health insurance companies – most of Medicare Advantage – focus much more on profitability compared to growth this year,” said Cobi Blumenfeld -Gentrez, founder and CEO of Chapter, a brokerage house that helps Medicare members to register for coverage. “Some of the advantages of the plan will not be as robust as in the past.”

CMS provides that the average monthly bonus in the Advantage Medicare plans will go from $ 16.40 this year to $ 14 in 2026. However, when the inscription open preliminary The starting point of the period starts on Wednesday, the elderly can find higher prices in most large insurer plans.

Evercore ISI analysts claim that initial data on 2026 offers indicate higher prices for plans United Group‘S unitedhealthcare, CVS health‘s aetna, Elevation,, Humana and others.

“Our preliminary analysis shows that payers have taken measures to improve margins through reductions in services, including higher bonuses, franchises and maximum on foot,” said Elizabeth Anderson of Evercore Isi in a research note. “In particular, we have seen (insurers) take more measures on the HMO levels which have generally experienced a greater reduction in benefits.”

Analysts claim that insurers prioritize OHM, or health maintenance organization, the 2026 plans, which tend to have more limited supplier networks. Although companies increase the deductibles in these plans, the elderly will always see offers with $ 0 bonuses, according to analysts.

“This is an area that carriers are very reluctant to touch. So they are more likely to reduce the advantages long before adding a bonus to a $ 0 product. But the products that already have premiums today … are likely to see increases,” said Brooks Conway, director of the consulting company Oliver Wyman.

The elderly tend to work with insurance brokers and agents to help sort their options when registering open. Thus, one of the ways that insurers try to stimulate registration for more profitable plans is to prioritize commission rates. They will pay higher levels on certain levels and none at all for others.

This year, carriers are increasingly eliminating the broker commissions on A large strip of less profitable plans.

“This is not something that is outside the standard for this to happen, but the amount of the cutting plans and being put out of service, it is not normal,” said Michael Antoine, an independent health insurance agent with partner insurance solutions.

For 2026 registration open, 15% to 20% of the plans were put out of service in most of the country, according to data compiled for CNBC by chapter. In some markets like New York, insurers have reduced commissions to more than 25% of plans, while in some parts of Georgia, it represents more than 35% of the plans.

“This year in particular, it is so important that people ask their Medicare advisor if there are plans that are available that the Medicare Advisor may not examine because of these non-commissioning challenges,” said Blumenfeld-Gentaz of the chapter.

Even when ready to give up commissions, brokers may not be able to access some of these plans on their brokerage systems.

“I had an experience and I will not say the carrier, where I could not even register the person in terms of plan,” said Antoine. “It was completely deleted. They didn’t want any membership in this plan.”

Insurers are betting that with more restrictive offers and registrations, they can better understand members and costs for 2026. But with so many disturbances on the market, uncertainty remains high.

“Registration is particularly difficult to project in years like this, where so many carriers reduce the advantages and adjust their portfolios,” said Conway. “A plan can expect to reduce inscriptions (Medicare Advantage) because they have looked () to discover that a large carrier has left its market, and the remaining carriers have also supported their advantages.”

Medicare registrants are expected to obtain opinions from their insurers on changes in their current health plans this week, when the 2026 open purchase period will start on Wednesday. With so many changes on the market, brokers say that the elderly must go around this year and weigh their options.

“It’s not the year to continue the automatic driver,” said Whitney Stidom, vice-president of the online brokerage house healthy. “Making comparison purchases can save more than $ 1,800 in costs in your pocket simply by simply comparing plans and potentially find something that will save them more.”

An imminent government closure, which could start on October 1, could add a little more uncertainty to this year’s registrations, with the congress to a dead end on a financing agreement.

A former CMS official told CNBC that a short term should not have an impact on open registrations, because the financing of entrepreneurs who oversees the process has already been allocated and will continue.

On Saturday, CMS announced that critical services for Medicare and Medicaid would not be affected by a closure, although the agency would not have funding to provide surveillance to entrepreneurs, including those who administer the Medicare call centers.

The Open Medicare registration period takes place from October 15 to December 7.