With additional benefits and typically lower costs, Medicare Advantage (MA) Plans can be a great value compared to Original Medicare. Despite employing managed care protocols to control costs, more and more Medicare eligible seniors are gravitating to the better value MA plans offer. In just over four years, from October 2016 through January 2021, the penetration of MA plans across the U.S. has grown from under 31% of Medicare eligible Americans to over 41%.
The growing popularity of MA plans nationally is mirrored in the twelve-state Southeast region of the U.S., where Medicare Advantage plan enrollment has grown from a 30.7% share of the Medicare eligible market in October 2016 to almost 43% as of January 2021. Here is a state-by-state look at how Medicare Advantage market share in the Southeast has grown from October 2016 to January 2021:
 |
| Medicare Advantage Market Share in the Southeast |
| Medicare Eligible (1) | MA Enrollment (1) | % MA Market Share | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Jan-21 | Oct-16 | Jan-21 | Oct-16 | Jan-21 | Oct-16 | ||
| AL | 1,065.8 | 991.4 | 523.2 | 262.2 | 49.1% | 26.5% | ||
| AR | 648.0 | 609.0 | 211.1 | 125.3 | 32.6% | 20.6% | ||
| FL | 4,706.7 | 4,172.8 | 2,374.3 | 1715.1 | 50.4% | 41.1% | ||
| GA | 1,786.4 | 1,585.9 | 822.2 | 529.6 | 46.0% | 33.4% | ||
| KY | 946.2 | 882.7 | 392.3 | 240.1 | 41.5% | 27.2% | ||
| LA | 894.9 | 817.7 | 399.8 | 257.4 | 44.7% | 31.5% | ||
| MS | 613.3 | 574.3 | 168.6 | 89.8 | 27.5% | 15.6% | ||
| NC | 2,049.5 | 1,829.7 | 887.1 | 561.9 | 43.3% | 30.7% | ||
| SC | 1,112.4 | 977.5 | 383.6 | 230.3 | 34.5% | 23.6% | ||
| TN | 1,389.9 | 1,269.6 | 623.9 | 452.3 | 44.9% | 35.6% | ||
| VA | 1,557.9 | 1,404.1 | 427.9 | 204.3 | 27.5% | 14.6% | ||
| WV | 443.7 | 424.9 | 167.2 | 106.4 | 37.7% | 25.0% | ||
| Region | 17,214.7 | 15,539.5 | 7,381.4 | 4,774.8 | 42.9% | 30.7% | ||
| Total (2) | 62,741.5 | 56,888.7 | 25,936.7 | 17,489.5 | 41.3% | 30.7% | ||
