Here is what you’ll find in this week’s newsletter!

1. Important links 🔗 - the best articles we found this week about the Medicare Market along with links to Jared’s recent LinkedIn posts.

2. Deep Dive 📚 - AEP 2024 → Medicare Advantage Enrollment Growth (Part 2) 🚀 

3. Compliance Chatter 📢 - Release of final Part One guidance for the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan by CMS.

4. Sponsor Snapshot 🚀 - brought to you by 2024 AEP Medicare Advantage State Deep Dives.

5. Data Visual of the week 📊 - Data Visual highlighting enrollment distribution by Star Rating.

It’s only a 5 minute read, but it will make you 10x smarter.

DEEP DIVE 📚

AEP 2024 → Medicare Advantage Enrollment Growth (Part 2) 🚀

Last week, we dove into enrollment growth by Geography and Health Plan.  Today, we will shift our focus to AEP growth by Plan Type. 

Remember, “AEP growth” is the change in enrollment counts from December 2023 to February 2024.

Individual vs. Group

We shared last week that UnitedHealth Group saw significant growth during AEP in Employer Group membership.  Employer Group Plans are offered by employers or unions to Medicare-eligible retirees. 

Let’s look at Employer Group versus Individual plan AEP growth.

Employer Group plans grew 4%, or ~ 238k enrollees.  Comparatively, Individual plans grew 3%, or ~710k enrollees.  While Employer Group plans saw growth in AEP ‘24, they only account for 17% of the market, with the majority being Individual plans. 

This graph compares Individual and Employer Group plan AEP growth in the top 10 states with the largest overall growth:

Washington saw the largest growth in Employer Group enrollment for all states, in addition to higher growth for Employer Group plans versus Individual.  Pennsylvania’s growth is attributed to Individual plan growth.

We should note that Employer Group and Individual plans are a larger umbrella that many other MA plan types fall under. We will look at these next. (Note- for a quick refresher on all MA plan types, see our recent deep dive)

Plan Type

This next graph compares growth by Plan Type (combines Individual and Employer Group plans):

HMO plans, which account for 55% of the market, added ~138K enrollees (1% growth) during AEP. 

However, Local PPO plans “won” AEP, adding ~927k enrollees (7% growth). 

Regional PPO’s, which have a larger network of providers to meet the needs of beneficiaries in more rural areas, declined ~84K enrollees. 

PFFS, MSA, Medicare-Medicaid, and 1876 Cost plans also declined in AEP.

SNP’s

Special Needs Plans (SNP’s), which fall under the “Individual Plan” umbrella, saw an overall AEP growth of ~268k (4%). 

Dual-Eligible (D-SNP) Plans, which control 88% of the SNP market, saw the most growth at ~158k enrollees (3%). 

Chronic or Disabling Condition (C-SNP) Plans grew by 21%, or ~111k enrollees.  Institutional (I-SNP) Plans decreased by ~1k enrollees.

This next graph compares AEP growth by SNP Type for the top 10 Health Plans with the largest overall SNP enrollment in Feb ’24:

CVS/Aetna’s SNP’s grew ~135k, followed by Humana at ~78k. Elevance Health, Centene/Wellcare, Molina, and Cigna’s SNP enrollment all declined.

The below map shows AEP growth by State for D-SNP plans. Florida, New York, and Michigan saw the most D-SNP growth, while Arizona saw the largest decline.

That’s all for now!  We hope you have gained valuable AEP insights over the past two weeks.  If you want even more information, check out our e-book, which gives you Medicare Advantage AEP enrollment statistics for all 50 states. 

Plus, when you purchase prior to March 11th you’ll get an exclusive offer to our webinar called “2024 MA AEP results – What the Data says” on March 12th 1 EST!

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_{Sources: Source Data: Dec 2023 and Feb 2024 CMS Medicare Advantage/Part D Contract and Enrollment Data, CMS PBP Benefits Q42023, CMS CY2024 Landscape Files. * Enrollment data excludes plans with less than 10 enrollees}

DATA VISUAL of the Week 📊

The data visual of the week comes from CHARTIS. It shows enrollment distribution by MA plan star rating over the past 5 years. Highlights the decrease in 5 star plan enrollment in 2024, with an increase for 4+ star plans.

If you’re ready, here are some ways we can help you:

• Newsletter Sponsorship opportunities: Promote your product or services to leaders in the Medicare space. Let’s discuss. (link)

• Market Research: Reports that help you wrap your arms around the Senior focused insurance markets. (link)

• Consulting: We can help you develop new insurance products for the Medicare market, appraise your books of business, and keep you compliant. Let’s discuss. (link)