Medicare Advantage vs. care access: 10 new findings

Becker's Healthcare October 29, 2025
Francesca Mathewes

While enrollment in Medicare Advantage has increased over time and allows payers to offer extra benefits to beneficiaries, the program may be contributing to barriers and disruptions to care according to a report released by KFF Oct. 27.

The report examines the share of physicians available to Medicare Advantage enrolees as a share of physicians available to traditional Medicare beneficiaries by county, plan characteristics and physician specialties using 2022 MA provider directories.

Here are 10 takeaways from the report:

1. The analysis found a wide variation in network breadth across MA plans. Compared with traditional Medicare, the size of an MA plan’s network did not necessarily indicate whether it included enough physicians with the correct expertise and availability...

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