Medicare coverage

On its 50^th anniversary, more than 55 million Americans covered by Medicare

New Medicare state-by-state enrollment numbers

As Medicare and Medicaid celebrate their 50th anniversary protecting the health and well-being of millions of seniors, people with disabilities and low-income individuals, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today released updated Medicare state-by-state enrollment numbers, showing that more than 55 million Americans are covered by Medicare.

In 1966, approximately 19.1 million Americans were covered by Medicare. In 2012, there were nearly 52 million beneficiaries covered by Medicare. Today's enrollment numbers represent a three million person increase during the last three years as the Baby Boom generation has started to retire. Medicare beneficiaries depend on the program to provide critical health services such as preventive services, including flu shots and diabetes screenings, hospital stays, lab tests and critical supplies like wheelchairs and prescription drugs.

"Over the last 50 years, Medicare has become part of the fabric of our communities, protecting the well-being and financial security of millions of American families as they age or if they become disabled. In doing so, Medicare has kept up with dramatic demographic changes and led the charge toward improving health care delivery," said Andy Slavitt, CMS acting administrator. "As we preserve and advance Medicare for future generations, we are focused on helping build a better system with smarter spending that keeps people healthier."

CMS also releases state-by-state Medicaid enrollments on a monthly basis. As of May 2015, over 71.6 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) with 12.8 million more gaining coverage since 2013. More information is available on Medicaid.gov.

The chart below outlines enrollment as of May 2015 in Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage and Part D (prescription drug plans):

State	Medicare Parts A and/or B	Medicare Advantage1	Total	Part D Total
Alabama	714,475	246,373	960,848	681,722
Alaska	82,292	665	82,957	33,114
Arizona	685,835	433,055	1,118,890	798,358
Arkansas	469,450	121,903	591,353	403,326
California	3,246,443	2,354,920	5,601,363	4,295,432
Colorado	486,962	290,466	777,428	548,360
Connecticut	465,754	161,781	627,535	468,874
Delaware	163,003	15,077	178,080	128,152
DC	76,076	11,735	87,811	49,810
Florida	2,367,608	1,601,277	3,968,885	2,920,247
Georgia	1,023,363	480,178	1,503,541	1,067,898
Hawaii	130,226	112,326	242,552	169,927
Idaho	186,352	91,711	278,063	185,761
Illinois	1,585,563	472,008	2,057,571	1,436,768
Indiana	867,439	274,477	1,141,916	823,097
Iowa	482,104	86,749	568,853	429,361
Kansas	416,622	67,545	484,167	336,790
Kentucky	631,252	226,064	857,316	630,711
Louisiana	547,162	239,874	787,036	569,946
Maine	234,647	69,616	304,263	213,308
Maryland	842,226	81,163	923,389	544,529
Massachusetts	948,839	261,433	1,210,272	817,417
Michigan	1,263,405	622,116	1,885,521	1,451,478
Minnesota	416,680	489,099	905,779	677,566
Mississippi	472,274	84,720	556,994	392,353
Missouri	804,245	324,780	1,129,025	827,818
Montana	162,736	36,852	199,588	126,085
Nebraska	271,448	39,218	310,666	217,073
Nevada	296,171	149,826	445,997	294,927
New Hampshire	244,219	20,067	264,286	163,822
New Jersey	1,252,414	233,355	1,485,769	1,060,513
New Mexico	251,323	117,883	369,206	255,414
New York	2,077,589	1,251,906	3,329,495	2,535,580
North Carolina	1,221,482	529,303	1,750,785	1,269,656
North Dakota	98,440	19,871	118,311	83,300
Ohio	1,241,692	898,626	2,140,318	1,634,697
Oklahoma	557,128	116,649	673,777	442,217
Oregon	414,968	330,468	745,436	538,975
Pennsylvania	1,501,476	1,018,209	2,519,685	1,878,311
Rhode Island	130,451	71,751	202,202	150,801
South Carolina	708,740	219,934	928,674	654,583
South Dakota	125,660	29,233	154,893	104,825
Tennessee	797,583	426,921	1,224,504	903,638
Texas	2,436,297	1,159,610	3,595,907	2,471,636
Utah	224,070	116,912	340,982	231,172
Vermont	120,557	10,024	130,581	94,501
Virginia	1,082,620	255,307	1,337,927	827,856
Washington	819,681	356,870	1,176,551	735,723
West Virginia	301,883	113,220	415,103	288,569
Wisconsin	645,149	397,405	1,042,554	722,372
Wyoming	90,820	3,678	94,498	58,379
American Samoa	4,174	238	4,412	576
Guam	14,764	63	14,827	3,080
Northern Mariana Islands	*	*	2,063	480
Puerto Rico	195,888	561,658	757,546	572,163
Virgin Islands	19,074	236	19,310	11,292
Pending State Designation	*	*	3,046	923
Foreign and Other Outlying Areas	422,200	4,014	426,214	11,034
Total	37,345,712	17,710,809	55,056,521	39,246,296

¹ The following organization types are included in the Medicare Advantage column: Local and Regional Coordinated Care Plans, Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) plans, Medical Savings Account (MSA) plans, Section 1876 Cost Contract plans, Section 1833 Health Care Prepayment (HCPP) plans, Chronic Care Plans, and Medicare-Medicaid Demonstration Plans.

* CMS is obligated by the federal Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. Section. 552a and the HIPAA Privacy Rule, 45 C.F.R Parts 160 and 164, to protect the privacy of individual beneficiaries and other persons. All direct identifiers have been removed from this data file. In addition, information is suppressed that is based upon fewer than eleven (11) beneficiaries in the population.