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Medicare Open Enrollment

Part D Premiums and Cost Sharing in 2027

The average monthly premium for Medicare Part D coverage in stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDPs) will increase to $51 in 2027, up 50% from $34 in 2026, if current enrollees don’t switch into lower-premium plans during the open enrollment period. That is more than five times higher than the drug coverage premium in Medicare Advantage plans that offer Part D coverage, which is projected to average $9 per month in 2027. Most Part D enrollees also will face a deductible of several hundred dollars for drug coverage in 2027.

Also: Many Medicare Part D Stand-Alone Drug Plan Enrollees Will See Modest Premium Increases for 2027

Medicare Open Enrollment and Coverage Options: Key Questions and Answers

Each year, Medicare beneficiaries have an opportunity to make changes to how they receive their Medicare coverage during the nearly 8-week annual open enrollment period, which runs from October 15 through December 7. This brief answers key questions about the Medicare open enrollment period and Medicare coverage options.

NEW AND NOTEWORTHY

How Much Do People With Medicare Pay For Coverage?

This brief provides an overview of the costs faced by Medicare beneficiaries in traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and Medicare Part D, including premiums, deductibles, copays, and coinsurance, focusing on costs in 2026.

What’s in a Name? From Today’s Medicare to Medicare for All

KFF’s Larry Levitt explains how proposals to create Medicare-for-All promise more generous benefits than the existing Medicare program, with no premiums or cost-sharing, but could end up looking more like Medicare if it became the subject of a serious national debate about the tradeoffs involved to implement it.

Medigap

Medigap Guaranteed Issue Requirements: An Overview of Federal and State Rules

This issue brief analyzes federal and state rules related to guaranteed issue requirements for Medigap policies and how they impact beneficiaries’ access to Medigap, including the implications for Medicare beneficiaries with pre-existing medical conditions and those under age 65 with long-term disabilities.

MEDICARE PART D

Medicare Advantage

The Average Beneficiary has 28 Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plan Options for 2027

On average, Medicare beneficiaries will have the option of 28 Medicare Advantage prescription drug (MA-PD) plans in 2027, a decline from the 32 options available in 2026 (excluding employer plans and special needs plans not available for general enrollment).
The number varies across states. In 26 states and Puerto Rico, the average beneficiary has at least 20 MA-PD options in 2027, while in nine states and DC, the average beneficiary has fewer than 10 MA-PD options. Open enrollment runs from October 15 through December 7.

Medicare Advantage in 2026: Enrollment Update and Key Trends

Medicare Advantage Enrollees Have Access to Half of the Physicians Available to Traditional Medicare Beneficiaries

Medicare Advantage Insurers Made Nearly 53 Million Prior Authorization Determinations in 2024

Medicare Will Spend More Than $13 Billion on the Medicare Advantage Quality Bonus Program in 2026

Prescription Drugs

CMS’s Decision to End Temporary Subsidies to Medicare’s Stand-Alone Drug Plans Could Mean Larger Premium Increases for Some Beneficiaries Next Year

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to end the temporary Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration after 2026. The goal of the demonstration, established in 2024, was to stabilize stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP) premiums and enrollment amid the rollout of changes to the Part D benefit under the Inflation Reduction Act, including a new cap on annual out -of-pocket drug costs.

Key Facts About Medicare Drug Price Negotiation

Recent Trends in GLP-1 Use and Spending in Medicare

What to Know About Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and Federal Efforts at Regulation

Nearly Four Million Medicare Beneficiaries Met the Eligibility Criteria in 2023 for the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge

Data Visualization

The Facts About Medicare Spending

This interactive provides the facts on Medicare spending. Medicare, which serves 67 million people and accounts for 12 percent of the federal budget and 21 percent of national health spending, is often the focus of discussions about health expenditures, health care affordability and the sustainability of federal health programs. Explore data on enrollment growth, Medicare spending trends overall and per person, growth in Medicare spending relative to private insurance, spending on benefits and Medicare Advantage, Part A trust fund solvency challenges, and growth in out-of-pocket spending by beneficiaries.

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  • Analysis Finds End-of-Life Medicare Spending Declines With Age Among Seniors

    News Release

    Among beneficiaries who died in 2014, Medicare spent significantly more per person on medical services for seniors in their late sixties and early seventies than on older beneficiaries, according to a new data note from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The analysis comes at a time when physicians can now be reimbursed by Medicare for end-of-life care discussions with their patients. The analysis of Medicare claims data through 2014 finds that among those who died in…

  • Turning Medicare Into a Premium Support System: Frequently Asked Questions

    Issue Brief

    Premium support is a general term used to describe an approach to reform Medicare that aims to reduce the growth in Medicare spending. These FAQs raise and discuss basic questions about the possible effects of a premium support system for Medicare beneficiaries, the federal budget, health care providers, and private health plans.

  • Medicare’s Role for People Under Age 65 with Disabilities

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief examines the role of Medicare for people under age 65 with disabilities, including how this group qualifies for Medicare, the characteristics of people under age 65 with disabilities compared to those age 65 or older, and how sources of supplemental coverage and prescription drug coverage, spending and use of services, and access to care differ for Medicare beneficiaries under age 65 with disabilities and older beneficiaries.

  • Tax Cuts Could Make It Harder to Change Medicare, Medicaid

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman discusses how cutting Medicare and Medicaid has always been a challenge, but if the public comes to view “entitlement reform” as a means to pay for tax cuts, the GOP will have an even stiffer challenge, including with their base.

  • Health Care Ranks Among Voters’ Top Issues for the 2018 Midterm Elections, But It’s a Lower Priority Among Voters in Battleground States and Districts

    News Release

    Only One in Three Know the Tax Reform Law Repeals the ACA’s Unpopular Individual Mandate Health care and the economy and jobs top voters’ list as “the most important issue” for Congressional candidates to talk about ahead of November’s midterm elections, but the lineup shifts among voters in states and districts with competitive elections, the January Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds.  When asked how important a series of major national issues are, similar shares say…

  • “What is CMMI?” and 11 other FAQs about the CMS Innovation Center

    Fact Sheet

    The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), also known as the "Innovation Center," was authorized under the Affordable Care Act with the goals of designing, implementing, and testing new payment and delivery system reform models to address concerns about rising costs, quality of care, and inefficient spending. These FAQs provide an overview of the Innovation Center, as well as details on model performance, beneficiary involvement, and more.

  • As Americans age, Medicare will pay for a growing share of the nation’s prescription drugs

    Feature

    COW – powerpoint on Medicare drug spending share increasing Download Source Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of National Health Expenditure (NHE) Historical (1960-2016) and Projected (2017-2026) data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group (Accessed on May 2, 2018) for the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker.

  • What Would a CVS/Aetna Merger Mean for Medicare?

    Feature

    Source Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 2017 Part D plan filesKaiser Family Foundation, “Medicare Advantage 2017 Spotlight: Enrollment Market Update,” Figure 6, June 2017.