Medigap enrollment rises 6.5%

Use of Medicare supplement (Medigap) insurance policies increased in 2015, but the average amount of premium each enrollee paid fell.

Analysts at Mark Farrah Associates (MFA) have published data supporting those conclusions in a brief based on financial reports insurers filed with state insurance regulators. Here is a breakdown of the findings:

• The total number of Medigap covered lives increased 6.5 percent, to 11.9 million.

• Overall Medigap premium revenue increased 6 percent, to $26 billion.

• The average amount of premium revenue per enrollee fell 0.5 percent, to $2,200.

• The marketwide ratio of claims paid to premium revenue increased to 77.1 percent in 2015, from 76.6 percent in 2014.

• The average amount of cash issuers had left over after paying an enrollee’s claims fell 2.8 percent, to $503.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) continued to be the Medigap market leader, with a 34 percent share of of enrollees, but its share was down from 36 percent in 2014.

Mutual of Omaha, Aetna and Health Care Service Corp. covered the same percentage of Medigap enrollees that they covered in 2014.

Cigna Corp. (NYSE:CI) had too few Medigap enrollees in 2014 to show up on MFA’s 2014 Medigap market share pie chart. This year, Cigna’s acquisition of Sterling Life Insurance Company’s Medigap busines has put it on the market share pie chart. As a result of the Sterling Life deal, Cigna covered about 2 percent of the people who had Medigap coverage in 2015. 

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