CMS NEWS
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27th, 2019
Contact:
CMS Media Relations
(202) 690-6145 | CMS Media Inquiries
Medicare Plan Finder Gets an Upgrade for
the First Time in a Decade
It’s Now Easier to Compare Coverage Options and Shop for
Medicare Health and Drug Plans
For
the first time in a decade, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) today launched a modernized and redesigned Medicare Plan
Finder. The Medicare Plan Finder, the most used tool on Medicare.gov,
allows users to shop and compare Medicare Advantage and Part D plans.
There are more than 60 million people with Medicare coverage. The updated
Medicare Plan Finder also provides them and their caregivers with a
personalized experience through a mobile friendly and easy-to-read design
that will help them learn about different options and select coverage that
best meets their health needs. The new Plan Finder walks users through
the Medicare Advantage and Part D enrollment process from start to finish
and allows people to view and compare many of the supplemental benefits
that Medicare Advantage plans offer.
These
changes are part of the Trump Administration’s eMedicare initiative –
which expands and improves on current Medicare consumer service options.
CMS is improving our online Medicare tools to meet the needs of a growing
number of tech savvy beneficiaries. The online tools do not replace
Medicare’s traditional customer service options. People with Medicare
will continue to have access to paper copies of the Medicare & You
handbook and be able get help over the phone using 1-800-MEDICARE.
“President
Trump has made it clear that he wants to protect and strengthen
Medicare.” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “The redesigned Medicare
Plan Finder is another example of how CMS is empowering beneficiaries
with price and quality information to take advantage of lower rates and
new benefits in Medicare Advantage and Part D.”
In
2019, CMS added nearly 600 Medicare Advantage plans with average premiums
declining to their lowest levels in 6 years. Over the past three years,
average Part D basic premiums have decreased by 13.5 percent, from $34.70
in 2017 to a projected $30 in 2020, saving beneficiaries about $1.9
billion in premium costs over that time.
The
redesigned Medicare Plan Finder will make it easier for beneficiaries to
see these changes and to:
- Compare
pricing between Original Medicare, Medicare prescription drug plans,
Medicare Advantage plans, and Medicare Supplement Insurance
(Medigap) policies;
- Compare
coverage options on their smartphones and tablets;
- Compare
up to three drug plans or three Medicare Advantage plans
side-by-side;
- Get
plan costs and benefits, including which Medicare Advantage plans
offer extra benefits;
- Build
a personal drug list and find Medicare Part D prescription drug
coverage that best meets their needs.
As
part of a phased rollout, both the old and new Plan Finder will be
available and run in parallel through the end of September 2019, to allow
time for users to try out and become familiar with the new version. The
new Plan Finder has been in use at the 1-800-MEDICARE call centers for over
a month already. CMS has streamlined the information on the new Plan
Finder and has conducted consumer testing throughout the development of
the new Medicare Plan Finder to ensure that the information that is
displayed is complete, understandable and is in plain language. In
addition, CMS collaborated with stakeholders to include improvements in
the new Plan Finder that directly addresses a number of issues with the
old Plan Finder. For example, CMS has integrated information about
Medicare coverage options, clarified the cost-savings benefits of low
income subsidy programs, added functionality to use actual claims data to
help build more accurate drug lists, streamlined the end-to-end flow for
users, and ensured that mobile optimization allows for easy use on the
device the user prefers – desktop, tablet, or smartphone. In 2018,
approximately 25 percent of Medicare beneficiaries accessed Medicare Plan
Finder on mobile devices, an increase of 40 percent from 2017.
CMS
has been offering in-person and online training on the new Plan Finder
throughout the summer and we plan to offer an additional webinar session
in September. We are also producing several other tools to aid with
learning the new Plan Finder, including videos and tip sheets.
“We
want consumers to have the best tool possible when open enrollment begins
on October 15. Try it out and let us know what you think,” said
Administrator Verma.
CMS
annually provides Medicare health and drug plan data for private sector
developers and researchers to use to create innovative new products. CMS
intends to release the real-time Medicare plan data in an API format by
the end of this year to make it easier for the private sector to create
additional tools to help beneficiaries make informed health coverage decisions.
In
addition to upgrading Medicare Plan Finder, CMS has redesigned the
Medicare.gov homepage and refreshed the personalized MyMedicare.gov
portal to create a more seamless, easy to navigate, personalized online
experience for people with Medicare.
Approximately
10,000 people join Medicare each day. Today’s announcement builds on the
eMedicare initiative that first launched in 2018 to deliver simple tools
and information to current and future Medicare beneficiaries. Other new
tools launched under the initiative that seeks to deliver personalized
and customized information that Medicare beneficiaries prefer include:
- The
“What’s Covered” app that tells people what’s covered and what’s not
in Original Medicare.
- A
price transparency tool that lets consumers compare Medicare
payments and copayments of certain procedures performed in both
hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical centers.
- Interactive
online decision support to help people better understand and
evaluate their Medicare coverage options and costs between Original
Medicare and Medicare Advantage;
- An
online service that lets people quickly see how different coverage
choices will affect their estimated out-of-pocket costs;
- Webchat
option in Medicare Plan Finder helps people get on-the-spot support;
and
- Easy-to-use
surveys across Medicare.gov so consumers can continue to offer
feedback about their online experiences.
Medicare
Open Enrollment is the time for people with Medicare to review their
health coverage. It begins on October 15, 2019, and ends December 7,
2019. Medicare health and drug 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 fit 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
royalty-free, downloadable images of individuals using the new Medicare
Plan Finder in English and Spanish to use for republishing, please visit:
https://downloads.cms.gov/media/plan-finder-images.zip.
For a
Spanish version of this press release, please visit: https://www.cms.gov/sites/drupal/files/2019-08/08-27-2019%20Press%20Release%20Spanish%20Plan%20Finder%20Redesign.pdf
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