Medicare

Public Payers See Higher Member Satisfaction on Network Size, Cost

by Kelsey Waddill

Medicare Advantage, fee-for-service Medicare, and Medicaid received higher member satisfaction scores than individual health insurance market plans and employer-sponsored health plans, according to a...

Trends in Medicare Advantage 2022 Open Enrollment Offerings

by Kelsey Waddill

Medicare Advantage has seen a lot of growth in recent years and that trend is set to continue into 2022, as evident in the number of plan offerings for the Medicare Advantage 2022 open enrollment...

Providers Share Benefits of Medicare Advantage During COVID-19

by Kelsey Waddill

There has been a lot of valuable conversation around the benefits that Medicare Advantage health plans can offer to consumers, but now providers have offered their perspectives on this form of health...

Coronavirus Pandemic’s Impact on Insurer, Consumer Trends in 2021

by Kelsey Waddill

The coronavirus pandemic has left its mark on health insurer and enrollee trends, an eHealth report confirmed. The report based its findings on over 2,200 anonymous survey responses from the American...

Survey Shows COVID-19 Toll on Senior Mental Health, Social Health

by Kelsey Waddill

From the beginning, it was clear that seniors’ lives would be turned upside down as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but Humana’s survey of over 1,000 seniors reveal the severe toll...

BMA: Medicare Advantage Offers Lower Costs, Better Benefits Than FFS

by Victoria Bailey

Medicare Advantage plans offer members additional benefits and require less spending from the federal government compared to fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare, according to a report commissioned by Better...

More Medicare Advantage Plans Offer SDOH Benefits With $0 Premium

by Kelsey Waddill

More Medicare Advantage health plans will deliver social determinants of health and non-medical supplemental benefits in 2022 and the existence of $0 premium plans continues to grow, an Avalere study...

How MA Special Needs Plans Compare to Traditional Medicare, MA

by Kelsey Waddill

Medicare Advantage special needs plan members are more racially and ethnically diverse, are in lower income brackets, and tend to be sicker member populations than traditional Medicare or Medicare...

Plan Comparison Was Low During Medicare Open Enrollment 2018

by Kelsey Waddill

Most Medicare beneficiaries did not review their health plan options during open enrollment in 2018, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) issue brief. “The marketplace of Medicare...

Medicare Advantage COVID-19 Hospitalizations Were Lower Than FFS

by Kelsey Waddill

Updated 11/10/21: This article has been updated to elucidate the differences between Medicare Advantage beneficiaries' and fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries' use of telehealth and...

Expanding Covered Medicare Benefits May Lower Out-of-Pocket Costs

by Victoria Bailey

Policymakers are looking to include dental, hearing, and vision benefits to Medicare as a part of the budget reconciliation bill, which could benefit many Medicare beneficiaries who go without this...

BMA Asks Congress to Secure Medicare Advantage Benefits in Reform Bill

by Victoria Bailey

Better Medicare Alliance has commended Congress for including additional benefits in its proposed Budget Reconciliation plan for Medicare reform and is urging lawmakers to maintain the structure that...

Centene Will Group Medicare Offerings Under Wellcare Brand

by Kelsey Waddill

Wellcare has announced that Centene and Wellcare will consolidate their Medicare offerings under the Wellcare brand name. This strategy will bring Centene Medicare products like Allwell, Health...

Medicare Mortality Rates Reveal COVID-19 Racial Care Disparities

by Kelsey Waddill

While racial care disparities in Medicare are not new, the gap in mortality rates between beneficiaries of different ethnicities and races grew even more pronounced during the coronavirus pandemic, a...

Essential Home Healthcare Quality Measures for Value-Based Care

by Kelsey Waddill

As home healthcare becomes more common, payers pursuing value-based care arrangements with home healthcare providers will need to establish strong home healthcare quality measurements. The coronavirus...

CMS Announces Historic Navigator Grant Funding for 2022-2024

by Kelsey Waddill

A significant amount of Navigator grant funding is available for Navigator organizations to help employ more individuals to guide Americans through the 2022 plan year, CMS announced. “Our local...

How New Medicare Benefits Would Impact Medicare Advantage Rebates

by Kelsey Waddill

Updated 8/30/2021: The original AHIP analysis was corrected to convey that seniors could lose at least $696 in Medicare Advantage benefits. This article has been altered to include that...

Medicare Advantage Healthcare Spending Exceeds Original Medicare

by Kelsey Waddill

Escalations in Medicare Advantage healthcare spending—along with higher traditional Medicare spending—could drive scarcity in the Medicare hospital insurance trust fund and could boost...

Employers Support Empowering Medicare to Negotiate Drug Prices

by Kelsey Waddill

Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH) supported President Joe Biden’s plan to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. “The truth is high drug costs are perpetuated by all parties...