CMS NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2018
Contact: CMS Media Relations
(202) 690-6145 | CMS Media Inquiries
Medicare
Advantage premiums continue to decline while plan choices and benefits
increase in 2019
Enrollment projected to increase while plans offer new types
of supplemental benefits
Today, the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that, on average,
Medicare Advantage premiums will decline while plan choices and new
benefits increase. In addition, Medicare Advantage enrollment is
projected to reach a new all-time high with more than 36 percent of Medicare
beneficiaries projected to be enrolled in Medicare Advantage in 2019.
This news comes as the agency releases the benefit and premium
information for Medicare health and drug plans for the 2019 calendar
year.
“Medicare Part D and Medicare
Advantage demonstrate the successes possible when we harness consumer
choice and private-sector innovation to improve care and lower cost,”
said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “Efforts to strengthen negotiation and
competition in Medicare Part D are bearing fruit in the form of lower
drug costs for American seniors, a key priority for President Trump.
Meanwhile, the significant steps taken to maximize competition among
Medicare Advantage plans and support and empower Medicare beneficiaries
are a crucial piece of allowing patients to define and drive value, which
the Trump Administration has made a priority.”
“The steps that the Trump
Administration has taken to improve and drive competition in Medicare
Advantage means more savings, more benefits, and lower costs for
seniors,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “The popularity of
programs, such as Medicare Advantage, and with the various new
supplemental benefits and policy changes that have been adopted, we
expect plan choices to be even more robust moving forward.”
The Medicare Advantage
average monthly premium continues to steadily decline, and will be the
lowest in the last three years. On average, Medicare Advantage premiums
in 2019 is estimated to decrease by six percent to $28.00, from an
average of $29.81 in 2018. Nearly 83 percent of Medicare Advantage
enrollees remaining in their current plan will have the same or lower
premium in 2019. Approximately 46 percent of enrollees in their current
plan will have a zero premium.
Medicare Advantage will be
offering approximately 600 more plans in 2019. The number of plans
available to individuals to choose from across the country is increasing
from about 3,100 to about 3,700 – and more than 91 percent of people with
Medicare will have access to 10 or more Medicare Advantage plans,
compared to nearly 86 percent in 2018. Access to the Medicare Advantage
program remains strong, with about 99 percent of people with Medicare
having access to a Medicare Advantage plan.
Medicare Advantage enrollment
is projected to increase to an all-time high from the current enrollment
of 20.2 million to 22.6 million in 2019, an 11.5 percent increase
compared to 2018.
As a result of the new
flexibilities on supplemental benefits available for the first time in
2019, about 270 plans are providing nearly 1.5 million enrollees with
access to the following new types of benefits:
- Expanded health related
supplemental benefits, such as adult day care services, in-home
support services, caregiver support services, home-based palliative
care and therapeutic massage; and
- Reduced cost sharing and
additional benefits for enrollees with certain conditions, such
diabetes and congestive heart failure, due to the agency’s
reinterpretation of uniformity.
The access to new
supplemental benefits is a positive start for 2019, and CMS expects
continued growth in 2020, as plans take advantage of these new
flexibilities to attract new beneficiaries. In addition, more Medicare
Advantage enrollees are projected to have greater access to important
supplemental benefits such as dental, vision, hearing, over-the-counter
items, meals, nursing hotlines and transportation for medical services
(for example, doctor visits).
Access to the Medicare Part D
prescription drug program remains universal in 2019 with 100 percent of
beneficiaries having access to a stand-alone prescription drug plan.
Earlier this year, CMS announced that, for a second year in a
row, the average monthly basic Part D premiums are expected to fall from
$33.59 this year to $32.50 next year. The agency had announced several changes in the Part D
program to provide Part D plans with additional tools to strengthen
negotiations with drug manufacturers to lower the cost of prescription
drugs.
As the 2019 Medicare Open
Enrollment period approaches, CMS is continuing to improve the
Medicare.gov website for Medicare plan selection, so beneficiaries can
more easily compare options and choose the plan that best fit their
needs. Medicare Open Enrollment for 2019 Medicare health and drug plans
begins on October 15, 2018, and ends December 7, 2018. Plan costs and
covered benefits can change from year to year, so people with Medicare
should look at their coverage choices and decide on the options that best
fits their health needs. They can visit Medicare.gov (https://www.medicare.gov), call
1-800-MEDICARE, or contact their State Health Insurance Assistance
Program. Those people with Medicare who do not wish to change their
current coverage do not need to re-enroll in order to keep their current
coverage.
For a fact sheet on Medicare
Advantage and Part D in 2019, please visit: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2019-medicare-advantage-and-part-d-prescription-drug-program-landscape.
To view the premiums and
costs of 2019 Medicare health and drug plans, please visit: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Prescription-Drug-Coverage/PrescriptionDrugCovGenIn/index.html.
For state-by-state
information on Medicare Advantage and Part D in 2019, please visit: https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Reach-Out/Find-tools-to-help-you-help-others/MA-Part-D-Landscape-State-by-State.pdf
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