Bob Herman Feb 25, 2019
Data: Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services; Map: Harry Stevens/Axios
States in the Midwest, South and West have the highest
proportions of Medicare members enrolled in Medicare Advantage. Some states
have more than 40% of their Medicare population in the taxpayer-subsidized
private plans.
The big picture: Roughly
a third of all Medicare enrollees are in MA, a program that has garnered bipartisan support despite its shortcomings, and some Wall
Street estimates think MA will be the majority option by 2021.
By the numbers: More
than 22 million seniors and people with disabilities have a Medicare
Advantage plan, according to February 2019 enrollment data from the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services. The map highlights enrollment data
from 2017, when there were 19.2 million MA enrollees.
- The state with
the highest proportion of private Medicare plan enrollees (57.3%) is Minnesota,
although many people are enrolled in "Medicare cost" plans that
function as a hybrid between MA and traditional Medicare.
- MA is the choice
of at least 40% of all Medicare enrollees in 6 other states (California,
Florida, Hawaii, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island).
- MA is far less
popular in states with sparse populations, like Alaska, Vermont and
Wyoming.
Between the lines: States
with high concentrations of MA enrollees also have dominant systems of
hospitals and doctors that sell MA plans.
- Many MA members
in Pennsylvania buy plans from Highmark, Geisinger and UPMC, while Kaiser
Permanente has a strong grip of the market along the West Coast.
What to watch: Health
insurance companies will always aggressively pursue areas where there are a lot
of seniors, like Florida and California, but the distribution shows there are
pockets of the Midwest and Northeast that could be their next targets.
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