CMS: Medicare Advantage Premiums Will See Little Change in 2024

Ahead of the Medicare Open Enrollment Period, CMS has announced that Medicare Advantage premiums, benefits, and plan choices will remain relatively stable in 2024.

 “A top priority for CMS is to protect and strengthen the Medicare program for people with Medicare, their children, and their grandchildren,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in the announcement.

“It is important for people with Medicare to review their healthcare coverage and explore their Medicare options during Open Enrollment. The Biden-Harris Administration has taken many steps to improve Medicare Advantage and the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, and premiums and benefits in 2024 for Medicare Advantage will remain stable.”

Medicare Advantage average monthly plan premiums are expected to increase by just $0.64, from $17.86 in 2023 to $18.50 in 2024. Beneficiaries who remain in the same plan will see little or no premium increase, with around 73 percent of individuals seeing no increase.

The agency also said that plan choices will increase and supplemental benefit offerings will grow next year.

Medicare Advantage enrollment is expected to rise from 31.6 million in 2023 to 33.8 million in 2024, increasing the share of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage from 48 percent to 50 percent.

In July, CMS announced that the average monthly premium for Medicare Part D coverage is projected to be $55.50 in 2024, falling 1.8 percent from $56.49 in 2023. In addition, Part D beneficiaries will likely see lower drug costs due to provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, including a $35 cost-sharing limit on a month’s supply of covered insulin products.

Beneficiaries may receive additional financial support through the Medicare Savings Program and the Low-Income Subsidy Program. In 2024, the Low-Income Subsidy Program will expand and allow eligible beneficiaries to have no deductible, no premium, and fixed lower copayments for certain medications.

As Medicare Advantage premiums remain generally stable, more than 1,500 plans representing 8.7 million beneficiaries will participate in the CMS Innovation Center’s Medicare Advantage Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) Model in 2024. The model improves access to supplemental benefits that address social determinants of health, particularly for those with chronic conditions or low incomes.

Almost 80 Medicare Advantage plans will also offer the VBID Model’s Hospice Benefit Component, which increases access to palliative and integrated hospice care.