Medicare

Medicare’s preliminary decision to cover a new Alzheimer’s drug only for a limited group of beneficiaries is likely to intensify pressure on officials to reconsider the increase in the Medicare Part B premium for 2022. Officials cited the high price of Aduhelm as a key reason for a 14.5 percent increase in the Part B premium. But that was before Biogen announced a 50 percent reduction in the drug’s price at the end of 2021, and before the proposed coverage decision was made. Together, these factors suggest that Medicare Part B spending on this drug is not expected to be as large as previously forecast.

Our analysis finds that 3,834 Medicare Advantage plans will be available across the U.S. in 2022 – an increase of 8 percent from 2021 and the largest number of plans available in more than a decade. More than 26 million Medicare beneficiaries (42% of all beneficiaries) are in Medicare Advantage plans, which are mostly HMOs and PPOs offered by private insurers. A typical beneficiary will be able to choose from 39 plans in their area but the number varies greatly across the country.
We’ve got an overview of the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D marketplace for 2022, including the latest data and key trends over time. Medicare’s open enrollment period began Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 7.
> Read the news release
> Medicare Part D: A First Look at Medicare Prescription Drug Plans in 2022

Many Medicare beneficiaries face high annual out-of-pocket costs for dental and hearing care — services that generally aren’t covered in traditional Medicare, but typically are covered by Medicare Advantage plans though the scope and value of these benefits vary.
Our analysis shows that, among beneficiaries who used each type of service, average annual out-of-pocket spending was $914 for hearing care and $874 for dental care in 2018, but considerably less ($230) for vision care. Among those who were in the top 10 percent in terms of their out-of-pocket costs for such services, 2.7 million beneficiaries spent $2,136 or more on their dental care, while 360,000 beneficiaries spent $3,600 or more on hearing services. 
Beneficiaries can face high out-of-pocket costs whether they are in traditional Medicare or privately-run Medicare Advantage plans.

COVID-19 deaths among older adults in the U.S. have been on the rise amid the Delta variant outbreak, though they have not reached the levels seen earlier in the pandemic. Our analysis finds that older adults – as a group considered to be at highest risk from COVID-19 – have fared worse in states with low vaccination rates during the recent Delta surge. Had the death rate in the 10 least vaccinated states been the same as the death rate in the 10 most vaccinated states, there would have been 7,623 fewer deaths among older adults during the Delta surge in these states.

Rates of cost-related problems are higher among beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage than in traditional Medicare with supplemental coverage, but highest among beneficiaries in traditional Medicare without supplemental coverage. Among Black beneficiaries specifically, a larger share of those in Medicare Advantage reported cost-related problems than those in traditional Medicare (32% vs. 24%). The rate of cost-related problems was lower still among the subset of Black beneficiaries in traditional Medicare who had Medicaid or other sources of supplemental insurance (20%).