Few Seniors Have Changed Plans During 2022 Open Enrollment

December 09, 2021 - Nearly nine out of every ten American seniors had not changed Medicare plans with less than a month left in the 2022 open enrollment season, according to a MedicareGuide.com survey.

MedicareGuide.com surveyed over 2,280 seniors over the age of 65 from November 15 through November 17, 2021. At the time of the survey, there were three weeks left in the 2022 Medicare open enrollment season.

“Historically, most beneficiaries don’t change plans, but coverage and cost can change significantly year to year, especially now because of Covid,” said Jeff Smedsrud, the co-founder of HealthCare.com, MedicareGuide’s parent company. “It is becoming easier to use online tools to review your plan and find potential savings. It pays to shop around.”

Seniors reported that they were not considering switching health plans. More than two-thirds had not reviewed their health plans and 88 percent of beneficiaries had not changed their coverage at the time.

These results sync with a previous survey which found that, while the coronavirus pandemic caused many younger Americans to consider changing their health plans, older Americans were reticent to do so.

Seniors noted a handful of reasons why they chose not to change Medicare Advantage plans. Most seniors who did not change health plans (67 percent) said that they could not find a better health plan than the one that already covered them. 

Nearly one in five seniors said that they did not change health plans because they would not have saved on their premiums. Cost seemed to be a major factor in seniors' health plan selection process in 2022. Zero-dollar premium Medicare Advantage plans have gained in popularity, driving down the average health plan premium to $4 per month.

However, most beneficiaries who did switch plans and found a plan with a lower premium (85 percent) saved between $0 and $50 each year.

Another 18 percent of seniors did not change health plans because they found the process overwhelming. Lack of healthcare literacy and general confusion about the health plan selection process are perennial problems during open enrollment season. According to a survey commissioned by GoHealth, almost four in ten beneficiaries found Medicare resources confusing.

Eleven percent of all respondents switched to Medicare Advantage from Original Medicare, primarily due to Medicare Advantage’s benefits.

The hesitance to change health plans is not new. Most beneficiaries have never switched health plans before (66 percent). Eighteen percent reported that they had changed health plans one time.

Even more beneficiaries (85 percent) reported that they did not change their prescription drug health plan during the 2022 open enrollment season. For 9 percent of those who changed their prescription drug plans, pricing was the primary driver.

Seniors also prioritized supplemental benefits. Fifteen percent of respondents were looking for dental, hearing, and vision benefits, while 13 percent sought improved drug coverage.

Medicare Advantage plans and advocates have pushed to protect supplemental benefits in Medicare Advantage. For example, Better Medicare Alliance made several recommendations to CMS regarding how to preserve supplemental benefits in order to enhance health equity efforts in the senior patient population.

Although supplemental benefits have been marked as a unique strength of Medicare Advantage coverage, these benefits in Medicare Advantage can still result in out-of-pocket healthcare spending, an analysis from Kaiser Family Foundation found. 

As a result, policymakers are considering whether to include supplemental benefit coverage in fee-for-service Medicare for services such as hearing and vision.

In a letter to Congress, Better Medicare Alliance also stressed the need to structure fee-for-service Medicare benefits in such a way that they do not interfere with Medicare Advantage benefits.