Wednesday, October 10, 2018

10 Worst States for 2019 Medicare Advantage Costs

By Allison Bell | October 08, 2018 at 04:37 PM10. Georgia
10. Georgia
Average monthly premium: $26.14
Average annual drug deductible: $179.56
Average in-network MOOP: $6,404
Average annualized premiums + in-network MOOP: $6,718

9. New Hampshire
Average monthly premium: $43.83
Average annual drug deductible: $196.30
Average in-network MOOP: $6,194
Average annualized premiums + in-network MOOP: $6,720

8. South Carolina
Average monthly premium: $22.20
Average annual drug deductible: $160.43
Average in-network MOOP: $6,501
Average annualized premiums + in-network MOOP: $6,767

7. Idaho
Average monthly premium: $60.44
Average annual drug deductible: $126.14
Average in-network MOOP: $6,101
Average annualized premiums + in-network MOOP: $6,827

6. New Jersey
Average monthly premium: $36.76
Average annual drug deductible: $189.90
Average in-network MOOP: $6,461
Average annualized premiums + in-network MOOP: $6,902

5. New York
Average monthly premium: $55.52
Average annual drug deductible: $160.14
Average in-network MOOP: $6,291
Average annualized premiums + in-network MOOP: $6,957

4. Mississippi
Average monthly premium: $42.31
Average annual drug deductible: $300.52
Average in-network MOOP: $6,610
Average annualized premiums + in-network MOOP: $7,117

3. Maryland
Average monthly premium: $65.42
Average annual drug deductible: $168.46
Average in-network MOOP: $6,337
Average annualized premiums + in-network MOOP: $7,122

2. West Virginia
Average monthly premium: $53.55
Average annual drug deductible: $63.79
Average in-network MOOP: $6,502
Average annualized premiums + in-network MOOP: $7,144

1. Wyoming
Average monthly premium: $45.50
Average annual drug deductible: $220.00
Average in-network MOOP: $6,700
Average annualized premiums + in-network MOOP: $7,246

For a list of average 2019 Medicare Advantage plan cost data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, see Average State Medicare Advantage Plan Costs for 2019
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently posted a giant collection of 2019 Medicare Advantage plan cost data: a file that shows what each plan will cost, in each county.
The file also shows what the plan’s annual prescription deductible will be, and what the plan’s annual in-network maximum out-of-pocket (MOOP) spending limit will be.
The file, the 2019 MA Landscape Source Files spreadsheet, is available here.
We used the spreadsheet to come up with statewide cost averages.
To do that, we converted the monthly premium figure for each plan into an annualized figure, by multiplying the monthly figure by 12. We then added the annualized premium figure to the MOOP to come up with a total annual cost figure.
We also tried to improve the fairness of the cost comparisons by limiting the information used in the calculations to data for reasonably similar types of plans. We filtered the spreadsheet to include only the data for local health maintenance organization plans,  local preferred provider organization (PPO), plans and regional PPO plans, and only the data for plans that offer both Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage and enhanced alternative drug benefits.
Of course, our assumptions may fit some enrollees better than others. Medicare enrollees who expect to be healthy may prefer a plan with low, or no, monthly premiums to a plan with a low MOOP.
But clients who can afford it probably ought to budget for the possibility that they will use enough medical care to reach the MOOP.
We found that the state with lowest MOOP and annualized premium total was Nevada.
The average monthly premium there was about $45 per month, the average MOOP was $3,992, and the sum of the annualized premiums and the MOOP was $4,538.
The median premium-MOOP total, and the maximum was $7,246.
For a list of the states with 10 highest premium-MOOP totals, see the idea cards above.
Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor's insurance editor, previously was LifeHealthPro's health insurance editor. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached at abell@alm.com or on Twitter at @Think_Allison.
https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2018/10/08/10-worst-states-for-2019-medicare-advantage-costs/

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