Seniors are Choosing Medicare Advantage in Greater Numbers which is Good News for Private Health Plans, According to HealthLeaders-InterStudy

May 31, 2012—Nashville, Tenn. —HealthLeaders-InterStudy, the leading provider of managed care market intelligence, finds that Medicare’s growth and profit potential make it a good bet for managed care organizations looking to expand their business, according to the recently published National MCO Analyzer: Medicare report. Even with the nation’s budget and debt problems, Medicare continues to expand as aging baby boomers enter the market and the weak economy pushes more people into retirement.

The 2012 Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment season ended with 13.3 million members in MA plans, up 10 percent from 2011. Much of the 2012 MA growth accrued to the large national MA plans, which benefited from Medicare age-ins, a successful annual enrollment period and several major health plan acquisitions in the Medicare segment.

“Medicare Advantage is maturing, and part of that maturation is the consolidation of the market as smaller plans either fail or are purchased by the larger plans.” said HealthLeaders-InterStudy Senior Analyst Paula Wade. “The top ten plans now have two-thirds of the MA market for 2012. As these large players realize greater economies of scale, particularly in drug purchasing, consolidation will continue as marginal players decide to put themselves up for sale.”

Seniors are choosing Medicare Advantage plans in greater numbers, because those plans offer better benefits than the government fee-for-service program. Medicare Advantage plans are part of a federal program providing Medicare coverage through the private insurance market.

“Baby boomers are accustomed to managed care,” said Ms. Wade. “They think it’s entirely normal to choose a private health plan for delivery of their Medicare benefits. This generation is also savvier about researching their coverage alternatives online and shopping for the best value.”

The National MCO Analyzer: Medicare report includes a profile for each state and the District of Columbia to capture each program’s unique structure and operation. An abstract of the report can be found here:
http://hl-isy.com/Products-and-Services/National-MCO-Analyzer/MCO-Abstracts/2012/National-MCO-Analyzer--Medicare