Key Takeaways
Medicare Advantage plans enrolled 48 percent of Hispanic and 38 percent of African-American Medicare beneficiaries.
Fifty-seven percent of Medicare beneficiaries with Medicare Advantage coverage in 2015 were female.
Medicare Advantage plans had a higher percentage of beneficiaries age 75 years and older: 38 percent compared to 34 percent for Medicare fee-for service (FFS).
Fifty-three percent of Medicare Advantage had annual incomes1 of less than $30,000 and 28 percent had annual incomes of $50,000 or more, compared to 46 percent and 37 percent of Medicare FFS beneficiaries, respectively.
Background
More older Americans than ever pick Medicare Advantage for their health coverage. Medicare Advantage is an option within Medicare that provides the same benefits as traditional Medicare, but includes additional services and coverage like prescription drugs, vision, hearing, dental, and wellness care. This year, the number of beneficiaries who chose Medicare Advantage because of its better services, better care, and better value totaled more than 20 million nationwide.
Medicare Advantage is a program that provides affordable, high-quality coverage to all seniors. In fact, new data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS), which is produced by the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS), showed that Medicare Advantage plans continued to be a vital source of coverage for low-income beneficiaries and diverse populations in 2015—the most recent year available currently.