Medicare Open Enrollment: What Are Beneficiaries’ Medicare Advantage and Part D Drug Plan Options for 2021?

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People on Medicare Can Choose Among 33 Medicare Advantage Plans and 30 Medicare Prescription Drug Part D Plans, on Average, During the 2021 Medicare Open Enrollment Period With Medicare open enrollment underway, KFF has released new analyses that examine beneficiaries’ Medicare Advantage and Part D drug plan options for 2021. The average person on Medicare will be able to choose among 33 Medicare Advantage plans during the open enrollment period that runs through Dec. 7, finds Medicare Advantage 2021 Spotlight: First Look. It also finds that: The average beneficiary can choose from plans offered by eight firms in 2021, although enrollment typically has been concentrated in plans operated by a handful of insurers. Among the majority of Medicare Advantage plans that cover prescription drugs, 54 percent will charge no premium (although beneficiaries will have to pay the Medicare Part B premium), similar to 2020. Ninety-six percent of beneficiaries have access to a Medicare Advantage drug plan with no monthly premium in 2021. Medicare Advantage plans may offer supplemental benefits not available in traditional Medicare. Most plans have historically offered fitness, dental, vision, and hearing. For 2021 the vast majority are also offering telehealth (98%).  Medicare Advantage enrollment now exceeds 24 million beneficiaries. The plans, more than 60 percent of which are HMOs, are offered by private insurers and are an alternative to traditional Medicare. A second analysis, Medicare Part D: A First Look at Prescription Drug Plans in 2021, finds that the average Medicare beneficiary will be able to choose among 30 stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDPs) plus 27 Medicare Advantage drug plans (MA-PDs) in 2021, an increase in both types of Part D plans from 2020. Forty-six million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Part D plans in 2020. Other key findings: Among the 21 stand-alone Part D plans available nationwide, average premiums will range from a low of $7 per month to a high of $89 per month. Most Part D PDP enrollees who remain in the same plan in 2021 will be in a plan with the standard $445 deductible and face much higher cost sharing for brands than for generic drugs, including as much as 50 percent coinsurance for non-preferred drugs.  New for 2021, beneficiaries can enroll in a Part D plan offering coverage of insulin products at a $35 monthly copay, but premiums for these plans are on average close to twice as high as premiums for other Part D plans.  Also available from KFF is a new data note, More Than Half of All People on Medicare Do Not Compare Their Coverage Options Annually, based on the federal 2018 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey. It shows that 57 percent of Medicare beneficiaries do not review or compare their coverage options annually – a decision that can lead to unanticipated costs or coverage disruptions as beneficiaries make their selections during open enrollment. Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues, KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.
Contact: Chris Lee | (202) 654-1403 | clee@kff.org
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