Medicare Advantage Enrollment Up by 7.3%, Expected To Grow More

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans is up by 7.3% from this time last year, and more beneficiaries are expected to sign up when the program’s annual open enrollment period begins next month,Modern Healthcare reports.

CMS data show that about 17.7 million people are enrolled in an MA plan, up from nearly 16.5 million individuals at the same time last year. According to Modern Healthcare, many individuals have been enrolling in MA plans because of their benefits, such as coverage for hearing aids with low- or no-cost sharing, and low premiums.

Medicare’s annual open enrollment period will begin on Oct. 15 and end on Dec. 7.

Large, Investor-Owned Health Plans Have Most MA Beneficiaries

Large, investor-owned insurers continue to enroll the most MA beneficiaries. For example:

  • UnitedHealth Group leads the MA market with 3.48 million beneficiaries as of this month, boasting an 8.6% increase in beneficiaries from the same period last year;
  • Humana had 3.23 million MA beneficiaries as of this month, representing an 11.4% increase over the same time last year; and
  • Aetna had 1.27 million MA beneficiaries as of this month.

In addition, some not-for-profit health plans also gained many new beneficiaries over the past year, including:

  • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, part of Kaiser Permanente, which reached 1.33 million beneficiaries, representing a 6.4% increase over last year; and
  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, which reached 178,000 beneficiaries, representing a 23% increase over last year.

At the same time, multiple MA insurers over the past year have had to reduce benefits, increase premiums or completely eliminate products, citing federal rate cuts and high costs of care. In addition, some insurers over the past year have lost several thousand members, including:

  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina; and
  • Highmark Health

Source Link

Recommended Articles

AI in Healthcare: Calls for Stricter Standards Amid OpenAI Leadership Shuffle

Recent disruptions in OpenAI’s top brass have sparked intense dialogue within the healthcare sector, emphasizing the urgent need for robust standards governing the implementation of generative AI technologies. With Microsoft recruiting former OpenAI executives Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, concerns are growing that few corporations may soon dictate the trajectory of healthcare AI, potentially molding ...

Read More

2024 FSA, HSA, and HDHP Plan Limits

A health Flexible Spending Account (FSA) is an employer-sponsored benefit that allows eligible employees to save pre-tax dollars to pay for qualified medical expenses. Employees can elect a specific dollar amount, up to a certain limit, to set aside annually.

Read More

Proposals On PBMs And Medical Devices Advanced By House Subcommittee

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce health subcommittee pushed forward 21 proposals on Tuesday, some of which will restrict the power of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Democrats supported many of the proposals put forward by Republicans, including legislation reining in PBMs that had support from 60 organizations representing patients, providers, pharmacists, small businesses and ...

Read More

CMS Tightening Network Adequacy Standards For Exchange Plans

Beginning in 2025, health plans sold in state-run insurance exchanges would be required to meet time and distance standards that are at least as adequate as mandated on federal marketplaces, according to a rule released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Wednesday. Time and distance standards would be calculated at the ...

Read More
arrowcaret-downclosefacebook-squarehamburgerinstagram-squarelinkedin-squarepauseplaytwitter-squareyoutube-square