Medicare Advantage Insurers Step Up SNP Offerings for 2022, Particularly for Duals

by Lauren Flynn Kelly

 

As Medicare Advantage enrollment soars and the number of individual MA plans available across the U.S. reaches a new high for 2022, the MA Special Needs Plan market is also seeing continued growth. According to estimates from Clear View Solutions, LLC, there will be 926 plans available next year that were offered in 2021, compared with 766 plans that carried over from 2020 to 2021, according to the consulting firm’s analysis of the 2022 SNP Landscape files from CMS. 

 

More SNPs Than Ever, Especially for Duals 

• Cheryl Phillips, M.D., president and CEO of the SNP Alliance, says it’s not surprising to see an increased number of SNP offerings for 2022, and that’s for several reasons, starting with the CHRONIC Care Act, which granted permanent authorization to SNPs in 2018. “I think, compared to pre-2018, what we’re seeing is the momentum of the flywheel of permanency,” says Phillips. 
• Other factors contributing to expansion include the elimination of Dual Eligible SNP (D-SNP) “look-alike” plans and the addition of Special Supplemental Benefits for the Chronically Ill, which MA plans can offer on a targeted basis in their general population but may be easier to tailor to beneficiaries in a D-SNP or a Chronic Condition SNP (C-SNP), suggests Phillips. 
• A handful of firms appear to be driving the growth in D-SNPs. Of the 154 new plans being offered in 2022, more than half are being sponsored by major insurers such as UnitedHealthcare (25), Centene Corp. subsidiary WellCare (18), Humana Inc. (17), Aetna (15) and Anthem, Inc. (10).
• Although growth in the C-SNP market hasn’t been as dramatic as in D-SNPs, it has been consistent given that members with chronic conditions such as diabetes, end-stage renal disease and cardiovascular disorders are easy to identify and enroll, observes Phillips. 

I-SNPs Don’t Have Same Momentum 

• Meanwhile, there are not a lot of new entrants in the Institutional SNP (I-SNP) market, which experts say might have had more growth had it not been for the extraordinary circumstances of COVID-19. I-SNP enrollment is at around 90,000 members, which is up by about 2% from last year but represents a 5% decline from 2019. 
• The “triple threat” facing I-SNP sponsors in 2020 and 2021 included 1) the devastating impact of COVID-19 on nursing home residents, 2) the financial impact of COVID-19 on long-term care facilities and other provider sponsors and 3) the difficulty COVID-related lockdowns presented to enrollment, where plans had trouble even getting agents into a facility, says Phillips.  
• “There’s still some caution and there will be some financial hits for the smaller plans, but I expect that I-SNPs will rebound with their enrollment,” she predicts.

From Radar on Medicare Advantage