As health insurance companies expand into new
regions offering privatized Medicare Advantage coverage and enroll more
seniors, it could make the case for single payer more difficult for Democrats
on the 2020 Presidential campaign trail.
Health insurance companies continue to
announce record growth in their Medicare Advantage businesses with UnitedHealth
Group, the nation’s largest health insurer, announcing last week that its
Medicare Advantage enrollment jumped by 400,000 seniors to eclipse 5
million. Meanwhile, other health insurance companies are announcing plans
to expand into new states and counties to sell Medicare Advantage coverage to
seniors for 2020 and beyond.
This enrollment growth and geographic
expansions come while U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of
Massachusetts and some other Democrats running for the presidency in 2020 are
advocating a single payer version of Medicare for All that would replace the
private insurance system. Sanders and others argue the single payer version of
Medicare for All would eliminate co-payments, deductibles and allow Americans
to pick the doctors they want free of insurance company restrictions and
provider network rules.
But health insurers and analysts who follow
the industry say the increasing enrollment and expansions mean it will be less
likely for Congress and a future White House to replace Medicare Advantage given
seniors continue to sign up for such coverage in record numbers.
“There is zero chance the Bernie/Warren plan
gets enacted. Zero,” says John Gorman, a healthcare consultant who worked in
the Clinton administration as Assistant Director, Office of Managed Care at
HCFA, now known as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“Never in the history of this nation have we
annihilated a $3 trillion industry and we’re not about to start with insurers,”
Gorman added. “If there’s going to be ‘Medicare for All’ it will be Medicare
Advantage for all.”
UnitedHealth ended the second quarter with
5.19 million Medicare Advantage enrollees compared to 4.79 million in the
year-ago period, the insurer said last week in announcing the company’s
second-quarter earnings.
UnitedHealth’s Medicare Advantage enrollment
is the latest positive growth sign for such plans, which contract with the
federal government to provide extra benefits and services to seniors, such as
disease management and nurse help hotlines with some also offering vision,
dental care and wellness programs. And now insurers are rolling out more
supplemental benefits in their Medicare Advantage plans following rule changes
implemented.
Several big Medicare Advantage players,
including executives from UnitedHealth, CVS Health and its Aetna health
insurance unit, Humana and top officials from the Trump administration are
speaking this week at the Better Medicare Alliance's Medicare Advantage Summit in
Washington on the benefits, strategies and challenges ahead for the program.
Gorman projects the Medicare Advantage program
will “represent over half of all” Medicare beneficiaries by 2025. “The
infrastructure is built for it to handle many, many more, if United’s
enrollment numbers are any indication,” Gorman said.
A recent study by L.E.K. Consulting
projects enrollment of seniors in Medicare Advantage could
reach 70% of those between 2030 and 2040. Insurers could be ahead of those
projections.
UnitedHealth is the first major insurer to
report quarterly earnings and related growth in the second quarter. Other
insurers, including Humana, Anthem and CVS Health’s Aetna health insurance unit
are expected to report their results and Medicare Advantage growth over the
next month.
Health insurers are also beginning to announce
where, exactly, they plan to grow and attempt to attract new Medicare Advantage
customers.
Take Oscar Health, a relatively young health
insurance company perhaps best known for sales of individual coverage under the
Affordable Care Act, has been planning for more than a year enter the Medicare
Advantage business. Last week, Oscar executives said they
plan to roll out their first Medicare Advantage plans in Houston and New York
for 2020, pending regulatory approval.
“We already know that Oscar’s tools are
accessible to people of all ages and are capable of making the health care
experience easier for everyone: 76% of our members who are 63-years-old and
over already have digital accounts with us, and 83% of them have reached out to
their concierge teams,” Oscar chief executive and co-founder Mario
Schlosser said in announcing the expansion into
Medicare Advantage. “We know these tools will be useful for our new Medicare
Advantage members as well, whether they’re searching for a doctor on our mobile
app, contacting their personalized Concierge team for guidance, or consulting a
doctor via telemedicine.”
No comments:
Post a Comment