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In 2021, 81 percent of all Medicare Advantage enrollees are in plans that receive a bonus payment from Medicare based on star quality ratings (or because they are new), substantially higher than the share in 2015 (55 percent). Annual bonus payments from the federal government to Medicare Advantage insurers have increased correspondingly, quadrupling from $3 billion in 2015 to $11.6 billion in 2021.
The Medicare Part D program provides an outpatient prescription drug benefit to older adults and people with long-term disabilities in Medicare who enroll in private plans, including stand-alone drug plans and Medicare Advantage drug plans. This analysis provides the latest data about Part D enrollment, premiums, and cost sharing in 2021 and trends over time.
A new analysis of health insurers’ financial data suggests that they remained profitable across markets in 2020 due in part to an unprecedented decrease in health spending and utilization in the spring as the COVID-19 pandemic led to massive shutdowns.
In this brief, we analyze third quarter data from 2018 to 2020 to examine how insurance markets performed financially through the end of September. Average margins remained relatively high compared to the same point in recent years, suggesting many insurers remained profitable even as non-COVID-related care returned in the summer and fall.
For 2021, the average Medicare beneficiary has access to 33 Medicare Advantage plans, the largest number of options available in the last decade, and can choose from plans offered by eight firms. Among the majority of Medicare Advantage plans that cover prescription drugs, 54 percent will charge no premium in addition to the monthly Medicare Part B premium. As in previous years, the vast majority of Medicare Advantage plans will offer supplemental fitness, dental, vision, and hearing benefits. In addition, virtually all will also offer telehealth benefits in 2021.
This issue brief provides an overview of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit plan landscape for 2021, with a focus on stand-alone drug plans. It includes national and state-level data on plan availability, premiums, benefit design, cost sharing, information about premium-free plans for low-income beneficiaries, and information about the national Part D drug plans available in 2021.
People 65 and older, who have been hardest hit by COVID-19 in terms of hospitalizations and deaths, are also at high risk of severe flu illness and are more likely to die of the flu than younger people. This analysis explores variation in the rate of flu vaccination among adults ages 65 and older covered by Medicare, and reasons cited for not getting vaccinated, based on data from the 2018 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey.
This policy watch post discusses the latest Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund solvency projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which show the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has hurt Medicare’s financial outlook, and foreshadow the tough choices facing the next President and Congress.
Number of Coronavirus Cases, Distribution of $30B in CARES Act funding and Medicare Advantage Penetration by StateStateNumber ofCOVID-19 Cases on April 21, 2020Percent of Total COVID-19 CasesFirst Distribution of CARES Act PaymentsPercent of Total Money DistributedPercent of Medicare Beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage, 2020New York253,400.0032.1%$1,859,574,4346.2%40%New Jersey88,806.0011.3%$919,426,8013.1%29%Massachusetts39,643.005.0%$841,425,1202.8%23%Pennsylvania34,005.004.3%$1,246,250,0764.2%41%California33,866.004.3%$2,920,960,7339.7%40%Michigan32,000.004.1%$936,700,1393.1%42%Illinois31,508.004.0%$1,204,103,1804.0%25%Florida27,058.003.4%$2,220,563,1377.4%43%Louisiana24,523.003.1%$474,891,7351.6%38%Connecticut19,815.002.5%$377,981,2571.3%41%Texas20,087.002.5%$2,089,066,4527.0%37%Georgia19,398.002.5%$792,069,1602.6%37%Maryland14,193.001.8%$742,225,3062.5%11%Ohio12,919.001.6%$989,773,4173.3%39%Washington12,486.001.6%$553,838,8061.8%33%Indiana11,688.001.5%$668,604,6142.2%32%Colorado10,112.001.3%$360,905,4821.2%38%Virginia9,097.001.2%$814,360,4672.7%21%Tennessee7,238.000.9%$739,723,3472.5%38%North Carolina6,979.000.9%$919,171,0873.1%36%Missouri5,963.000.8%$618,601,1672.1%35%Rhode Island5,090.000.6%$90,459,8340.3%39%Arizona5,068.000.6%$707,587,4822.4%39%Alabama5,092.000.6%$449,481,9451.5%41%Mississippi4,512.000.6%$374,847,7901.2%20%Wisconsin4,541.000.6%$471,681,0771.6%42%South Carolina4,439.000.6%$518,022,4631.7%28%Nevada3,830.000.5%$241,471,8410.8%36%Utah3,213.000.4%$185,292,4220.6%36%Iowa3,159.000.4%$297,929,1711.0%22%Kentucky3,050.000.4%$452,761,1711.5%34%District of Columbia3,098.000.4%$84,989,0990.3%20%Delaware2,745.000.3%$154,114,1180.5%17%Oklahoma2,680.000.3%$489,853,9981.6%22%Minnesota2,470.000.3%$472,206,1221.6%43%Kansas2,070.000.3%$325,135,9501.1%19%Oregon1,956.000.2%$291,029,0251.0%42%Arkansas1,990.000.3%$326,536,0431.1%26%New Mexico1,971.000.2%$169,486,1320.6%35%South Dakota1,685.000.2%$107,650,2010.4%19%Idaho1,736.000.2%$135,028,0560.5%33%Nebraska1,648.000.2%$225,027,9120.8%17%New Hampshire1,447.000.2%$164,580,3860.5%19%Puerto Rico1,298.000.2%$41,889,8220.1%70%West Virginia908.000.1%$246,574,8510.8%31%Maine875.000.1%$145,763,8120.5%36%Vermont816.000.1%$54,457,8700.
Most Medicare Advantage enrollees are in plans that have waived cost sharing for COVID-19 treatment, and many other beneficiaries in traditional Medicare have their cost sharing covered by supplemental insurance. This blog post discusses the 6 million Medicare beneficiaries without supplemental coverage who would face out-of-pocket costs if they require treatment for COVID-19.
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