ArticleHealth affairs scholar2025
Zero-premium Medicare Advantage plans: trends in areas with socioeconomic vulnerability and health needs.
Article in Health affairs scholar, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Health Care Utilization and Equity in Medicare Advantage Compared With Traditional Medicare.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Zero-premium Medicare Advantage plans and access to generic abiraterone and imatinib.Health affairs scholar · 2026Article
- Primary Care Cost Sharing in Medicare Advantage.JAMA health forum · 2026Article
- Access to Specialty Cancer Care and Plan Disenrollment Among Medicare Beneficiaries.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Oncology Organization and Oncologist Networks Under Medicare Advantage Plans.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Medicare Advantage Enrollment and Total Medicare Program Spending.Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financingArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Zero-premium Medicare Advantage (MA) plans are increasingly popular, yet knowledge gaps exist regarding their distribution, enrollment, and quality, particularly in areas with greater socioeconomic vulnerability and clinical need. Methods: We conducted a serial cross-sectional study of publicly available CMS data from 2019-2024, analyzing 2472 US counties. Annual plan counts and enrollment rates were examined, stratified by county-level socioeconomic and health characteristics (racial/ethnic minority percentage, poverty rate, and prevalence of fair/poor health). Counties were categorized into quartiles for comparison. Results: Zero-premium MA plans expanded substantially from 2019-2024, rising from 46.02% of MA plans (9.12 million enrollees) to 66.3% (18.76 million). These plans were more likely to feature restrictive provider networks and showed disproportionate enrollment growth in counties with greater socioeconomic and health needs (higher proportions of racial/ethnic minority residents, poverty, and poor health status; Conclusion: Rapid zero-premium MA plan adoption raises concerns about the quality of care, especially among vulnerable populations. Further examination of plan quality standards and patient outcomes, transparency of enrollment incentives (eg, insurance broker commissions), and enrollee navigation and decision-making about plan options is warranted.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.