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Supplemental benefits in Medicare Advantage: recent public policy changes and what they mean for consumers
Supplemental benefits in Medicare Advantage: recent public policy changes and what they mean for consumers
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Insight on the issues (AARP Public Policy Institute)
- Author(s):
- Sung, Jane, author
Noel-Miller, Claire, author - Contributor(s):
- AARP (Organization), issuing body.
Public Policy Institute (AARP (Organization)), issuing body. - Publication:
- Washington, DC : AARP Public Policy Institute, July 2019
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Insurance Benefits
Medicare Part C
Public Policy
United States - Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Last year ushered in significant changes to public policies governing "supplemental benefits" that Medicare's private plans (known as Medicare Advantage, or MA plans) can offer, but that are not covered under traditional Medicare. MA plans have long been allowed to offer such extra benefits (e.g. dental care, vision services, and gym memberships) and their availability is one of several key differences between MA and traditional Medicare. However, with the enactment of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (Budget Act) and new regulations issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), MA plans can now cover a wider array of extra benefits than was previously allowed. In addition, insurers now have greater flexibility to design and target those benefits. Many of these changes could have important implications for consumers. An increasing share of Medicare beneficiaries choose to get their coverage through Medicare's private plans--rather than traditional Medicare. In 2018, over 20 million beneficiaries (about a third of all people with Medicare) were enrolled in MA, and projections show that this number will continue to grow in the coming years. This Insight on the Issues is part of a series examining MA's supplemental benefits. The first report in the series explained how supplemental benefits worked in years prior to 2019. In this second publication, we detail recent changes to MA supplemental benefit policies and present new data about the supplemental benefits available in 2019. We also discuss implications for Medicare beneficiaries and propose policy improvements to ensure strong consumer protections going forward. We will continue to monitor changes to MA's supplemental benefits and how plans are implementing them in 2020 and beyond.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (12 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101767878 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101767878