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Under this approach,
employers contract with a Medicare Advantage private insurer that
provides all Medicare-covered benefits in addition to supplemental
benefits, rather than other approaches, such as providing supplemental
coverage that wraps around traditional Medicare.
Just 13 percent of large
employers offer retiree health benefits to Medicare-age retirees in 2022,
the analysis finds. It also finds that:
- Among
larger employers with 1,000 or more workers that offer retiree
health benefits through a Medicare Advantage plan, the most common
reason the employer elected this option was the lower cost.
- About
44 percent of large employers offering Medicare Advantage coverage
to their retirees give them no choice but to receive their benefits
through a Medicare Advantage plan, rather than give them a choice
between Medicare Advantage and non-Medicare Advantage options.
The shift to Medicare
Advantage has implications for retirees. On the one hand, this approach
may help retirees if it enables employers to maintain or even broaden
retiree health benefits rather than scale back or even terminate
coverage. On the other hand, it has the potential to restrict retirees’
access to doctors and hospitals for Medicare-covered services, depending
on the plan’s provider network, and subject retirees to utilization
management tools, such as prior authorization, that may limit access to
Medicare-covered services.
The rising number of
large employers choosing Medicare Advantage for their Medicare-eligible
retirees also has implications for federal spending because Medicare
spends more per person for enrollees in Medicare Advantage
plans (including in group plans) than for beneficiaries covered by
traditional Medicare.
For the full
analysis and other data and analyses about Medicare Advantage,
visit
kff.org.
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