Medicare Spent an Average of 27% More on People Who Switched from Medicare Advantage to Traditional Medicare Compared to Those Who Were Only in Traditional Medicare

KFF December 6, 2024

A new KFF analysis finds higher Medicare spending among people who switched from Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare than for similar beneficiaries who were in traditional Medicare all along.

Medicare spent an average of 27% more on such beneficiaries, according to the analysis, which examined health costs in traditional Medicare for both groups in the year following the switch, after adjusting for differences in health status and other characteristics. This amounts to a difference of $2,585 in Medicare spending per person, on average, between the two groups in 2022. The difference in spending among people with certain health conditions varied from 15% for those with pneumonia to 34% for people with diabetes.

The higher Medicare spending among beneficiaries...

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