|
Why sell SilverScript® PDP?
|
||
| Additional Updates: | ||
No Itch to Switch: Few Medicare Beneficiaries Switch Plans During the Open Enrollment Period
Each year, Medicare beneficiaries in private Medicare Advantage plans and Part D stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDPs) have the opportunity to change plans during the annual open enrollment period (October 15 to December 7). Medicare’s private plans vary significantly from each other and can change from one year to the next, which can have a significant impact on enrollees’ coverage and costs. The Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) encourages beneficiaries to shop for Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans to potentially save money on prescriptions or get new benefits.
Understanding how Medicare private plan markets are working is increasingly important for both beneficiaries and the Medicare program overall. Many presidential candidates and policymakers have proposed establishing a public program, modeled on Medicare, to expand coverage, while others want to expand the role of private plans within Medicare itself. To inform these discussions, this analysis examines the share of people enrolled in Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans (MA-PDs) and PDPs who switched plans for the following year during the open enrollment periods between 2007 and 2016, the most current year available for analysis of Medicare private plan switching rates. This analysis excludes enrollees with low-income subsidies; more detailed methods are described below.
- Overall, a small share of MA-PD and PDP enrollees without low-income subsidies (8% and 10%, respectively) voluntarily switched to another plan during the 2016 annual open enrollment period for the 2017 plan year (Figure 1).
- Among 9.4 million MA-PD enrollees without low-income subsidies, 7.6 percent (710,000 beneficiaries) voluntarily switched to another MA-PD during the 2016 open enrollment period for 2017, and another 0.9 percent (90,000 beneficiaries) switched from an MA-PD to traditional Medicare (with a PDP). Among 11.7 million PDP enrollees without low-income subsidies, 8.3 percent (980,000 beneficiaries) switched to another PDP and another 1.7 percent (200,000 beneficiaries) switched to an MA-PD during the 2016 open enrollment period for 2017. (A very small share of Part D enrollees switch to MA-only plans or traditional Medicare without Part D coverage; they are excluded from this analysis.)
- A substantial majority of Medicare private plan enrollees have not voluntarily switched plans in any given year over the time period of this analysis. During the open enrollment periods between 2007 and 2016, the share of enrollees without low-income subsidies voluntarily switching plans for the coming year ranged between 6 and 11 percent for people in Medicare Advantage drug plans, and between 10 and 13 percent among those in stand-alone drug plans (Figure 2).
U.S. News analyzed insurance companies’ Medicare Advantage offerings in each state based on their 2020 CMS star ratings.
MEDICARE-ELIGIBLE beneficiaries can enroll in a Medicare Part D Prescription Drug plan from a private insurance company. U.S. News 