Cigna Extends Medicare Advantage Transportation Benefit Due to Heat

Cigna is expanding its Medicare Advantage transportation benefit to bring Medicare Advantage members to locations where they can avoid the extreme heat.

“Older adults tend to be more susceptible to heat-related conditions, often because they have pre-existing medical conditions or take prescription or over-the-counter drugs that limit the body's ability to control its temperature,” said Joseph Sobel, MD, chief medical officer of Cigna Medicare. 

“Cigna is committed to helping older adults stay safe and healthy, and free rides to cooling centers is one important way to avoid preventable heat-related illnesses this summer.”

Cigna Medicare Advantage members can use their same-day transportation benefits to escape the heat. The payer will cover rides to community cooling centers or places with air conditioning like libraries and senior centers. 

Members will still be able to use their same-day transportation benefits to get to their doctor appointments, pharmacies, and coronavirus vaccine appointments.

In order to get a ride, members or their caregivers should contact Cigna using the phone number on the back of their customer ID card.

Cigna urged family members to check in on the seniors in their communities and families during heat waves. To help members and their families find local support, the payer offers a platform that allows anyone to search a zip code and find local support that is free or low-cost. The platform serves a variety of social determinants of health, including food, housing, education, and legal assistance.

The payer also directed readers to its page of tips on keeping seniors safe from the heat during the summer. Recommendations included checking the forecast, dressing appropriately, and monitoring medications that might impact internal temperature or sweat. 

Over 650 people die each year from heat-related conditions Cigna’s press release cited. Isolation and lack of air conditioning are risk factors. The US Environmental Protection Agency has determined that individuals ages 65 and older have been several times more likely to die from heat-related conditions.

Concerns about high temperatures are particularly well-founded in 2022, according to environmental authorities. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information reported that this June was the fifteenth-hottest summer in the past 128 years in the contiguous United States. Wildfires broke out in the South, Southwest, and in Alaska and rainfall has been lower than usual.

Transportation benefits like Cigna’s same-day transportation benefit are important for seniors. 

Nearly four out of every ten Medicare Advantage plans stated that they planned to offer transportation benefits to seniors in plan year 2022. It ranked second in the list of most popular Medicare Advantage social determinants of health benefits after meal deliveries.

Special needs plans, in contrast, were far more likely to offer transportation benefits, with nearly nine out of ten special needs plans offering these benefits in 2022.

Offering transportation benefits for seniors can have an impact beyond the member. Traveling with members to and from doctor’s appointments and other necessary trips can consume a fair amount of caregivers’ time. Payers that offer transportation benefits may support seniors’ wellbeing along with their caregivers’ mental and physical health.