Medicare enrollment period slides to an end

A few consumers have tweeted about mistakes they made when trying to enroll relatives in coverage.

One consumer tweeted, “Can someone explain why Medicare insists on sending daily enrollment emails to a 23-year-old?”

But news articles and social media posts about enrollment problems or consumer complaints about coverage price increases have been rare.

Analysts at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation reported last week that Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D drug plan menus continue to be varied.

In metropolitan counties, for example, the average number of Medicare Advantage plans available increased to 21 for 2016, from 20 in 2015. The average number of plans available in non-metropolitan counties increased to 11, from 10.

The unweighted average monthly premium for a local Medicare Advantage preferred provider organization (PPO) plan fell $2.41, to $78.61.

Brian Wright, an analyst at Sterne Agee CRT, reported, based on a Florida insurance regulators’ hearing on the proposed acquisition of Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) by Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AET) that about 21 percent of Aetna’s Medicare Advantage enrollees and 25 percent of Humana’s have switched to traditional Medicare in the past three years, and that 70 percent of private exchange users choose traditional Medicare coverage, rather than Medicare Advantage plans.