How Medicare Advantage Rebates Disadvantage Medicare’s Stand-Alone Drug Plan Market Medicare Advantage Rebates Undermine Competition with Stand-Alone Drug Plans by Lowering Medicare Advantage Drug Plan Premiums Authors: Juliette Cubanski, Jeannie Fuglesten Biniek, Meredith Freed, and Tricia Neuman Published: Jun 11, 2026

https://www.kff.org/medicare/how-medicare-advantage-rebates-disadvantage-medicares-stand-alone-drug-plan-market/?utm_campaign=KFF-This-Week&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9vCp3WyJkuZMDzlMrWfIKHsLbGXBwP-v8OEPRilp1SCBZtEs8oKjq-f6-THXxWb_YA9SNLuZjxygbWNaDACWL8RHLrPQ&_hsmi=423534957&utm_content=423534957&utm_source=hs_email How Medicare Advantage Rebates Disadvantage Medicare’s Stand-Alone Drug Plan Market The private plans that offer the Medicare Part D benefit—stand-alone drug plans and Medicare Advantage plans with drug coverage—are increasingly competing on uneven terms. We explore the growing instability of the Part D stand-alone drug plan market and how the Medicare Advantage payment system makes it harder to maintain competitive and affordable options in the PDP market in a new analysis