Here is what you’ll find in this week’s newsletter!

It’s only a 6 minute read, but it will make you 10x smarter.

DEEP DIVE 📚

Last week, CMS released the Landscape file for the upcoming 2026 plan year for Medicare Advantage and Part D. They are expected to release the Crosswalk file any day now.

These publicly available files that are released every Fall hold a wealth of information, and you might feel like you need a crossing guard to help you cross over into the 2026 plan year.  Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

The Crosswalk file will give us all Contract and Plan combinations from the 2025 plan year and tell us if these plans are renewing, renewing with service area consolidation, expansions, or reductions, or terminating.  It also introduces new plans for 2026.

The Landscape file contains information on all Medicare Advantage and Part D plans for 2026 including Contract, Plan, and Segment ID’s, State and County, Organization and Marketing names, plan type, SNP type, Part C and Part D premiums, and drug benefit information.

When combined, these Crosswalk and Landscape files tell us what the Medicare Advantage and Part D market will look like in the upcoming plan year compared to the previous year.

Today we will specifically be looking at the difference in distinct number of Contract and Plan combinations between the 2026, 2025, and 2024 files by:

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First let’s look at the number of available plans for Non - Special Needs Plans (“Non SNPs”):

We can see that:

 For Special Needs Plans (“SNPs”), the trend is different:

We can see that:

This points to the continued expansion of Special Needs plans in the market.

[Check out these deep dives for a look at enrollment trends in the D-SNP and C-SNP markets]

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When looking at the TOP 10 Medicare Advantage Parent Organizations with the most enrollees as of September 2025, we can see that:

Enrollee Count Source: Medicare Advantage Enrollment Insights web app available to MMI+ subscribers

When looking at the TOP 6 Part D Parent Organizations with the most enrollees as of September 2025, we can see that:

Enrollee Count Source: Medicare Advantage Enrollment Insights web app available to MMI+ subscribers

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The overall number Medicare Advantage plans (including MA, MAPD, and SNP) will decrease 2% 🔻 (-119) nationally from 2025 to 2026. The map below breaks down the change by state. 

We can see that:

In comparison, almost all states are seeing a decrease of 4 to 7 Part D plans in 2026. 

That’s all for now. Keep following us, as we will continue to dive into the Crosswalk and Landscape files over the coming weeks, providing more insight as we “cross” into AEP2026.

If you’re ready, here are some ways we can help you: