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Just Released
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Analysis Finds Record 3,148 Medicare Advantage Plans Will be
Available in 2020
Most Offer
Additional Benefits, Including Some Fitness, Dental and Vision, though Few
Offer Telemonitoring, In-Home and Caregiver Support
A
record 3,148 Medicare Advantage plans will be available across the country as
alternatives to traditional Medicare, a new KFF analysis finds. That’s up 15% from last year’s
2,734 plans and results in a typical beneficiary having 28 plans available to
them in their local market for the 2020 Medicare open enrollment period,
which began Oct. 15 and runs until Dec. 7.
About
22 million Medicare beneficiaries - a third of all beneficiaries - are
currently in Medicare Advantage plans, which are mostly HMOs and PPOs offered
by private insurers that are paid to provide Medicare benefits to enrollees.
Most
plans also offer benefits beyond what traditional Medicare covers, including
fitness (93%), dental (88%), eye exams and glasses (87%), and hearing aids
(83%). Nearly half (46%) provide a meal benefit, such as a cooking class,
nutrition education or meal delivery, and one-third (33%) provide some
transportation benefit. Far fewer offer other benefits related to social and
residential needs that can affect health, such as bathroom safety devices, handrails
(6%), telemonitoring (4%), in-home support (4%), and support for caregivers
(2%).
The
number of 2020 plans available varies greatly across the country, with 31
plans, on average, in metropolitan counties and 16 plans, on average, in
non-metropolitan counties. Six counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania have more
than 60 plans, while no plans will be available in 77 mostly rural counties
nationwide.
Most
Medicare Advantage plans (90%) include prescription drug coverage. Similar to
last year, about 49% of these plans do not charge any additional premium
beyond Medicare’s standard Part B premium.
KFF
has also updated its collection of frequently asked questions about Medicare Open
Enrollment to help beneficiaries understand their options during the annual
open enrollment period, including the private stand-alone Part D plans that
provide Medicare’s drug benefit and Medicare supplement (Medigap) plans, in
addition to Medicare Advantage plans.
Filling
the need for trusted information on national health issues, the Kaiser Family Foundation is
a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.
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Thursday, October 24, 2019
Analysis Finds Record 3,148 Medicare Advantage Plans Will be Available in 2020
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