All of the enrollment data was based on official reports via the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) through May 2026 for Medicare, Medicaid & CHIP and through February 2026 for ACA exchange coverage. I included estimated ACA enrollment data for March, April & May 2026 by extrapolating the limited hard data I did have for about a dozen or so states out nationally, including both a lower- and upper-bound range.
My conclusion at the time was that from January 2025 through May 2026...
"In other words, Republicans’ insistence that they have a superior alternative to Obamacare is a zombie lie — a claim that should be dead after having been proved false again and again, but it is still shambling along, eating people’s brains."
This is perhaps the 3rd or even 4th time that I've written a post debunking this particular Republican zombie lie, but usually I've included it as part of a larger post debunking other silly claims as well. Since it's making the rounds again I figured I should write something up which addresses it standalone.
Medicare Advantage (technically "Medicare Part C" & originally called "Medicare+Choice") is a type of health plan in the United States offered by private companies as part of the original Social Security Act of 1965 that created Medicare. It permits a private insurance option that wraps around traditional Medicare. Medicare Advantage plans attempt to fill some coverage gaps and offer alternative coverage options.
Under Part C, Medicare pays a plan operator a fixed payment for each enrollee. The operator then pays for their medical expenses. Traditional Medicare directly compensates providers on a fee-for-service basis. Plans are offered by integrated health delivery systems, labor unions, non profit charities, and health insurance companies, which may limit enrollment to specific groups of people (such as union members).
Yesterday I wrote about the standard monthly Medicaid/CHIP enrollment report published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). I noted that as of April 2026, total combined Medicaid & CHIP enrollment had fallen by another 398,000 people, to around 73.9 million Americans.
I also noted that this figure is nearly 5.1 million lower than it was as of January 2025...the same month that Donald Trump returned to the White House and Republicans took over all three branches of the federal government.
Medicare Advantage (technically "Medicare Part C" & originally called "Medicare+Choice") is a type of health plan in the United States offered by private companies as part of the original Social Security Act of 1965 that created Medicare. It permits a private insurance option that wraps around traditional Medicare. Medicare Advantage plans attempt to fill some coverage gaps and offer alternative coverage options.
Under Part C, Medicare pays a plan operator a fixed payment for each enrollee. The operator then pays for their medical expenses. Traditional Medicare directly compensates providers on a fee-for-service basis. Plans are offered by integrated health delivery systems, labor unions, non profit charities, and health insurance companies, which may limit enrollment to specific groups of people (such as union members).
Medicare Advantage (technically "Medicare Part C" & originally called "Medicare+Choice") is a type of health plan in the United States offered by private companies as part of the original Social Security Act of 1965 that created Medicare. It permits a private insurance option that wraps around traditional Medicare. Medicare Advantage plans attempt to fill some coverage gaps and offer alternative coverage options.
Under Part C, Medicare pays a plan operator a fixed payment for each enrollee. The operator then pays for their medical expenses. Traditional Medicare directly compensates providers on a fee-for-service basis. Plans are offered by integrated health delivery systems, labor unions, non profit charities, and health insurance companies, which may limit enrollment to specific groups of people (such as union members).
Yesterday I noted that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published a new database which updates the official effectuated ACA exchange enrollment data for all 50 states (+DC) through February 2026.
This means that I finally have comprehensive effectuated enrollment data for the first two months of the year for every state, as opposed to only having Open Enrollment Period (OEP) plan selections, which aren't the same thing.
While there are still four months of effectuated enrollment data missing, this still fills in a lot of the missing pieces of the year over year enrollment puzzle, since this new database also includes state-level effectuations from August - December 2025 as well (previously I only had the national total for those months).
