Medicare Advantage Market Continues to Look Good

The annual election period for the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D prescription drug programs for 2018 started Oct. 15 and is set to end Dec. 7.

The Medicare Advantage program gives private insurers a chance to use Medicare Part A hospitalization money and Medicare Part B physician and outpatient services program money to provide an alternative to traditional Medicare coverage.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, uses a bidding process to spur insurers to hold total program costs down and increase plan quality ratings.

Insurers often complain that CMS efforts to squeeze more out of them will eventually push issuers away from the Medicare Advantage program, but, this year, the program appears to be much appealing to insurers than the commercial individual major medical market does.

The individual major medical open enrollment period for 2018 starts Nov. 1, and insurers still have major open questions about how those products will work in 2018.

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