by Catherine Mandler 14-May-2019
Deft Research added a new study to the Senior
Market Insights Service. The OEP Supplement published this
week and looks at switching activity that occurred during the newly
reinstituted Open Enrollment Period (OEP). It’s an add-on study to the Medicare
Shopping and Switching Study and examines what happened during this
new switching period 1/1/19 – 3/31/19.
The primary objective of the study is to
understand shopping and switching during the OEP with a special emphasis on
Medicare Advantage members. The study relates the OEP behavior to AEP,
including the channels that prompt consumer shopping during the OEP, and how
product design can drive consumer decisions and be altered to help prevent
attrition in future AEPs.
Is
OEP an Opportunity to Acquire and Retain new Medicare Advantage Members?
OEP gives Medicare Advantage (MA) members the
opportunity to experience their health plan and decide if another plan better
meets their needs. Loyalty to a new plan is tested by these early experiences.
The OEP gives members an opportunity to find a better alternative. 17% of MA
members cite that finding a better alternative is a top reason for switching
their coverage during the OEP. New supplemental benefits give members a reason
to re-evaluate their current plan and see what other plans have to offer. The
2020 AEP will provide even more new supplemental benefit offerings to attract
the attention of new members. Even if MA members didn’t experience the new
benefits, OEP gives them time to better understand the benefits and look at
alternatives. This makes it more important than ever that health plans ramp-up the
educational efforts to clearly communicate their benefits to help members make
the right choice for them initially.
What Prompts Medicare
Advantage Members to Switch During OEP?
Agents continue to play a critical role for MA
members when considering health plan alternatives. Given the increased benefit
offerings with new supplemental benefits, members have even more questions.
Speaking to a person to help guide them through the decision eases the burden
of sorting through the alternatives themselves.
What Supplemental
Benefits Were Switch-Worthy?
New supplemental benefits prompt members to
switch plans. The door is open for the 2020 AEP to see the impact of new
supplemental benefits once health plans have more time to implement them.
Eyewear allowance and over-the-counter pharmacy allowance are supplemental
benefits that the recent OEP study shows to sway MA members to consider a
particular health plan. There’s a fine balance between offering a novel
supplemental benefit that is switch-worthy and appealing to the masses. The
2020 AEP will be an interesting time period to see how this plays out for new
supplemental benefit offerings.
Deft Research’s syndicated research studies provide
a national benchmark for health insurance carriers to gauge the Medicare,
Employer Group, and Individual markets. Health insurers that are interested in
surveying their own members and prospects engage Deft Research in custom research studies to
provide insight for their marketing and product strategies. Contact Deft Research with any questions
you may have regarding syndicated and custom research needs.
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