More hospitals dropping Medicare Advantage plans, favoring traditional Medicare

Katie Adams reports for MedCity News on hospitals dropping Medicare Advantage, which is administered by corporate health insurers, and steering patients to traditional Medicare, which is administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Medicare Advantage plans too often don’t pay the hospitals for the care they deliver or pay less they should. And, the frequency of their denials is only rising. Traditional Medicare is the reliable option.

So far in 2026, 30 health systems have dropped or have said they plan to drop a big Medicare Advantage plan. These hospital systems include Mayo Clinic, Mount Sinai, UNC Health, Lehigh Valley Health Network and University of Miami Health System.

Physicians are steering patients to traditional Medicare, which does not burden them anywhere near the degree to which prior authorization in Medicare Advantage burdens them.

Many providers now recognize that traditional Medicare is more efficient and cost-effective. People enroll in Medicare Advantage under the false illusion that they will get needed care. Once they develop a serious condition, however, they find that they can’t see the physicians or use the hospitals they want to use. And, when they find a provider, their Medicare Advantage insurer can create major obstacles to care and coverage.

Traditional Medicare has the advantage of scale over Medicare Advantage, as well as of not needing to profit. Unlike Medicare Advantage insurers, Traditional Medicare has no financial incentive to deny care inappropriately or to create obstacles to care. It does better than corporate health insurers on provider satisfaction, efficiency and cost. Insurers design Medicare Advantage for healthy people.

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