This may be a year when anyone who talks to people over the age of 65 had better have something thoughtful to say about the Medicare Advantage plan annual enrollment period.
The private insurers that participate in the program provide what looks like an alternative to "Original Medicare" for about 35 million of the 69 million Medicare enrollees.
The market for stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans serves 23 million Medicare enrollees.
For years, the programs operated smoothly.
This year, however, insurers have reacted to spiking health care costs, tougher federal government Medicare plan quality grading standards and changes in prescription drug plan benefits rules by turning away from the programs.
The annual enrollment period for 2026 coverage started Oct. 15 and is set to end Dec. 7.
Issuers have reduced or eliminated agent commissions, pruned benefits, reduced the size of provider networks, taken popular drugs like Humira off their lists of covered drugs, pulled plans off the shelves, given up on some counties and states, and, in some cases, given up on selling Medicare plans.
Timothy Danker, the chief executive officer of SelectQuote, a Medicare plan broker, talked about the severity of the upheaval earlier this month, during a conference call with securities analysts.
"This year, nationwide, about 2 million MA beneficiaries are going to be impacted by plan terminations, and another several million are having pullbacks in benefits," Danker said. "So, helping beneficiaries, and protecting our back book of business, is a priority."
For a look at five other things Medicare plan market insiders are saying about the current annual enrollment period, see the gallery accompanying this article.
Credit: Adobe Stock
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