Turning the Spotlight on Medicare Advantage for 2017
Medicare Advantage plans, which consist primarily of HMOs and PPOs, now cover almost 18 million people – nearly one-third of all Medicare beneficiaries.
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Medicare Advantage plans, which consist primarily of HMOs and PPOs, now cover almost 18 million people – nearly one-third of all Medicare beneficiaries.
This issue brief analyzes the number and variety of Medicare Advantage plan choices available to beneficiaries in 2017. It describes trends in number of Medicare Advantage plans and plan quality ratings, and new information on plan premiums, out-of-pocket expense limits, and other plan features. This spotlight is part of a series of spotlights tracking key changes in the Medicare Advantage program.
This brief analyzes 2017 Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace data on premium and insurer participation, including data made available through Healthcare.gov on October 24, 2017, as well as data collected from states that run their own exchange websites.
This issue brief provides an overview of the 2017 Medicare Part D stand-alone prescription drug plan marketplace, based on analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The brief focuses on data for 2017 and changes over time in plan availability, premiums, benefit design, cost sharing, and low-income subsidy plan availability.
As Open Enrollment for 2018 coverage gets underway, consumers who have health coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace are again receiving renewal notices from their health insurers. Though the insurer renewal notices this year are based on the same model notice required in the past, this year for many consumers, it may be causing significant – and misleading – sticker shock. That is because renewal notices sent by insurers are required to inform consumers what their 2018 monthly premium will be, assuming they receive the same amount of advanced premium tax credit (APTC) next year that they did in 2017. Insurer renewal notices have been required to present information this way since 2014.
A new individual mandate penalty calculator from the Kaiser Family Foundation allows consumers to estimate how much they would owe as a tax penalty for lacking health coverage in 2018, and to compare that amount to the cost of the least expensive 2018 Affordable Care Act marketplace plan in their local area.
For people who are uninsured and eligible for Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans, the analysis compares the cost of a premium for the lowest-cost bronze plan with the estimated individual mandate tax penalty for 2018. It finds that more than half (54% or 5.9 million) of the 10.7 million people could pay less in premiums for health insurance than they would owe as an individual mandate tax penalty for lacking coverage.
Most people with Medicare pay the standard monthly premium for Part B and Part D coverage, which is set to cover 25 percent of Part B and Part D program costs, but a relatively small share of beneficiaries are required to pay higher premiums. This issue brief describes current requirements with respect to Medicare's Part B and Part D income-related premiums and proposed changes under House legislation being considered in November 2017.
Premiums will rise substantially in 2018 Affordable Care Act marketplace plans for states using HealthCare.gov, but in many cases, people receiving premium tax credits will pay less than they did in 2017, a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds.
Maps illustrate how premiums in Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces changed for 2018 by looking at the change in the lowest-cost bronze, silver and gold plans by county; counties where an individual’s tax credit covers the full premium of the lowest-cost bronze plan; and counties where the unsubsidized premium for the lowest-cost gold plan has a lower or comparable premium to the lowest-cost silver plan in 2018.
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