Number of Highly Rated MA-PD Contracts Soars in Pandemic's Wake

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Number of Highly Rated MA-PD Contracts Soars in Pandemic's Wake
Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MA-PD) plans' star ratings soared to new heights for the 2022 plan year, according to an Oct. 8 data release. CMS reported that 90% of MA-PD members are enrolled in a plan rated at least 4 stars overall, compared to 77% in the 2021 plan year. Stand-alone Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs) also saw a significant boost for 2022, with 42% of members enrolled in a PDP rated 4 stars or above, up from just 17% this year. The COVID-19 pandemic was likely a driving force behind this dramatic upswing, as CMS made several regulatory changes to its data collection process amid the emergency and placated payers by qualifying all contracts for its "extreme and uncontrollable circumstances" policy, as outlined in the 2022 Star Ratings Fact Sheet. Among the top 10 payers, UnitedHealthcare's share of members enrolled in plans rated 4 stars or above spiked from 74% to 95%, while Anthem, Inc. also saw a huge jump, from 51% to 73%. Humana held relatively steady at 97% (up from 92%), as did Aetna at 87% (up from 83%). Kaiser Permanente, notably, saw 100% of its MA-PD members enrolled in a 5-star plan. Just one payer in the top 10, Centene Corp., had any MA-PD contracts score below a 3. See the full ratings distribution for all contracts below, plus the ratings and enrollment distribution for the top 10 payers.

 

*Enrollment figures represent the sum of Kaiser's seven regional managed care organizations.

NOTES: Enrollment data reflect Centene's acquisition of WellCare, Anthem's acquisition of InnovaCare Health Plans Inc. and Highmark's acquisition of HealthNow New York. Analysis does not include enrollment data from contracts that were too new to be rated, or did not have enough data available to measure a star rating.

SOURCE: CMS; DHP, AIS's Directory of Health Plans, as of September 2021.

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