Rural enrollment in Medicare advantage is concentrated in private fee-for-service plans

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans more than doubled in rural areas in 2006, the first year of the MA program. However, rural enrollment remains well below urban enrollment as a percentage of the eligible population. This policy brief provides findings about enrollment in the newly designed MA program in rural and urban areas across the United States and updates previous findings published in RUPRI Center policy briefs. Analysis of rural-urban differences in costs to beneficiaries that compares type of plan will be released in a policy brief in June 2007.