Access to Intravitreal Anti-VEGF Drugs in Persons with Medicare Advantage Compared with Medicare…

Cross-sectionalOphthalmology· Jun 2026

Access to Intravitreal Anti-VEGF Drugs in Persons with Medicare Advantage Compared with Medicare Fee-For-Service.

Jennifer Chan, Michael X Repka, George A Williams … Ravi Parikh

Read paper

RetinaCross-sectionalClinical practiceQ1IF 5.2

Medicare Advantage beneficiaries are associated with 7.7% lower use of aflibercept 2mg.

Access to Intravitreal Anti-VEGF Drugs in Persons with Medicare Advantage Compared with Medicare Fee-For-Service.

Jennifer Chan … Ravi Parikh

Ophthalmology · Jun 2026 · Q1 in Ophthalmology

Purpose

To investigate intravitreal anti-VEGF drug use among Medicare FFS (FFS) and Medicare Advantage (Medicare Advantage) beneficiaries.

Methods

Medicare beneficiaries 65 years and older with FFS or Medicare Advantage coverage with continuous insurance enrollment for at least12 months.

n = 4,271,050

-7.7%

Results

-7.7%

Use of aflibercept 2mg was 7.7% lower in Medicare Advantage compared to Fee-For-Service.

n = 4,271,050

More results

930,411 beneficiaries underwent 12,942,057 intravitreal injections.

In the FFS group, aflibercept 2mg was used most frequently (43.8%; n = 4,271,050), followed by bevacizumab (34.7%; n = 3,382,439), ranibizumab (20.6%; n = 2,008,791), brolucizumab (0.6%; n = 56,728) and faricimab (0.4%; n = 40,729).

More results

In the Medicare Advantage group, bevacizumab was used most frequently (45.1%; n = 1,436,151), followed by aflibercept 2mg (37.8%; n = 1,201,311), ranibizumab (6.5%; n = 524,758), brolucizumab (0.4%; n = 13,406), and faricimab (0.2%; n = 6,694).

47.0%; difference (diff) = 13.0%, 95% CI:12.8, 13.3%; P<.001).

“

Conclusion

Beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage were less likely to receive higher cost, anti-VEGF drugs, raising concerns about reduced beneficiary access to newer more expensive anti-VEGF drugs in Medicare Advantage.

Access to Intravitreal Anti-VEGF Drugs in Persons with Medicare Advantage Compared with Medicare Fee-For-Service.

Access to Intravitreal Anti-VEGF Drugs in Persons with Medicare Advantage Compared with Medicare Fee-For-Service.

Related papers