Nearly 3 million Medicare Advantage enrollees were forced to find new plans for 2026 – a 10x increase over historical norms. In 12 states, over 20% of members had to switch!

So who absorbed them?
* Humana led the pack, gaining roughly 1.2 million members and closing in on UnitedHealthcare for the top spot.
* Devoted Health nearly doubled its membership to ~470,000.
* Kaiser Permanente added 64,000. Alignment Healthcare grew 21% to nearly 280,000.
* Scan-Group, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, Medica, and CareSource also posted notable gains.
* Collectively, insurers with fewer than one million enrollees added 734,000 members – with more than 75%of smaller plans growing year over year.

Here’s what makes this even more complex: 83% of total MA enrollment growth came from Special Needs Plans, not general MA.

The growth is concentrated in the highest-acuity members – people with chronic conditions, dual eligibles, institutionalized populations – which raises the stakes considerably.

If you are a plan exec, you probably know that most of these new members didn’t choose your plan. They landed with you because their insurer exited or cut benefits. They arrive disoriented, often managing complex conditions with medication regimens your care teams can’t yet see.

The financial stakes are real. Acquiring an MA member costs up to $800. The average 2026 Star Rating sits at 3.66, with just 40% of contracts hitting the 4-star bonus threshold.

For plans absorbing thousands of involuntary members, every week of delayed outreach is a potential hit to quality scores and retention.

The plans getting this right are mining pharmacy data on day one to flag high-risk members, blending digital and human outreach instead of picking one channel, and treating onboarding as a clinical intervention – reconciling meds, closing care gaps, scheduling screenings – not a paperwork exercise.

Total MA enrollment hit 35.5 million in February, but growth is slowing. The battle is shifting from enrollment volume to member value.

If your activation strategy is a welcome packet and a hope they’ll call – you’re already behind.

The good news?

There is still time to turn the ship around. Outreach and engage your members like you really mean it! Skip the snail mail and emails, use sms instead. Touch base with them on a regular basis, not to cross off some HEDIS measure. It’s a long term investment with guaranteed ROI.