National reference · CMS 2026 data
U.S. Medicare Advantage Statistics
A national snapshot of Medicare Advantage plan quality, computed live from CMS plan data. Each figure below is aggregated directly from the official plan records, not estimated.
- 4,533
- CMS-rated MA plans
- 3.9 / 5
- average star rating
- 208
- five-star plans
- 288
- plan organizations
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Medicare Advantage landscape and star-rating files, 4,533 CMS-rated plan contracts appear in the September 2026 extract, covering about 35,491,891 reported enrollees nationwide. PlainMedicare renders those public CMS records without editorial plan recommendations. See our methodology for source tables, refresh cadence, and aggregation limits.
The national picture
CMS rates 4,533 Medicare Advantage plans from 288 organizations, and the average plan earns 3.9 of 5 stars. Top quality is concentrated: about 5% of rated plans reach the full 5-star mark.
- 4,533
- CMS-rated Medicare Advantage plans
- 3.9 / 5
- Average CMS star rating
- 208
- Five-star plans (5%)
- 35,491,891
- Total enrollees across plans
The CMS Five-Star Rating blends clinical quality, member experience, and customer-service measures, and is refreshed each plan year.
How Medicare Advantage plans are rated
CMS star ratings run from 2 to 5 in half-star steps. Most plans cluster in the 3.5-to-4.5 range; only a small share reach the full 5 stars, and plans below 3 stars are rare.
Cite this page
These statistics are free to quote and link with attribution. Suggested citation:
PlainMedicare, "U.S. Medicare Advantage Statistics," based on CMS plan data. https://plainmedicare.com/statistics/
Source data is in the public domain. Plan ratings and enrollment are published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Download the matching state aggregates as CSV.
Reading these numbers
A star rating is a useful shortlist, not the whole decision.
- About 5% of plans reach 5 stars, so a 4 or 4.5-star plan is still strong; weigh the rating against premium, drug coverage, and your own doctors. Plan rankings
- Ratings measure relative performance bands across quality, experience, and service, not whether a specific plan covers your medications. Methodology
- Availability and benefits vary by county, so the right plan for one person can be unavailable to a neighbor in the next state. Browse by state
- Open a county lookup to see which plans are offered where you live. County availability lookup
- CMS star ratings are explained in the registry guide without enrollment advice. Star ratings guide
Figures are computed from CMS plan data and refreshed each plan year. Star ratings measure relative performance bands, not absolute coverage of any individual need, and are not medical or insurance advice.