New Medicare Health Insurance Companies for 2026
Health Plan Radar
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Staff Article
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Published: October 12, 2025 - Updated: October 12, 2025
The Medicare landscape is constantly changing, year to year and State to State. Each October, plan information for Medicare Advantage (Part C) plans and Part D Prescription Drug plans are released for the upcoming year.
The government allows private health insurance companies to offer these plans to the marketplace. In this article we highlight new health insurance companies which have entered each State’s Medicare marketplace for 2026.
Medicare Advantage Plans (Part C) - New Insurance Companies Offering Plans for 2026
Medicare Advantage Plans, also known as Part C, bundle Original Medicare Part A and Part B into one health insurance plan and typically include extra benefits such as dental, vision, prescription - Part D, and other benefits.
More About Private Health Insurance Companies Offering Medicare Plans
Although the federal government administers the Original Medicare program, the government also allows private health insurance companies to offer Medicare Advantage Plans (Part C) and Prescription Drug Plans (Part D) to Medicare enrollees. These private insurance companies must be approved to offer Medicare plans and the different insurance companies offering plans can vary year to year and State to State.
The government allows insurance companies to offer Medicare plans because they are able to administer Medicare benefits more efficiently and at a lower cost compared to the government’s administration of Original Medicare. However, when enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, you are required to use the insurance companies network of providers and you may not have the same access to doctors as Original Medicare.
More About Our Analysis
Information shown regarding new health insurance companies in each State’s Medicare marketplace is based on our evaluation of HIOS plan ID and issuer ID data available from medicare.gov. An insurance company is considered new to a State’s market if their issuer ID is new and was not present the previous year.
