Trends in Medicare Advantage 2022 Open Enrollment Offerings

Medicare Advantage has seen a lot of growth in recent years and that trend is set to continue into 2022, as evident in the number of plan offerings for the Medicare Advantage 2022 open enrollment season, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) issue brief.

“As Medicare Advantage enrollment continues to grow, insurers seem to be responding by offering more plans and choices to the people on Medicare,” the researchers explained.

Payers are offering a total of more than 3,800 Medicare Advantage plans in 2022. Nearly nine out of ten of these health plans are Medicare Advantage-prescription drug plans. 

Over 1,400 of the plans are local preferred provider organizations (PPOs), while more than 2,200 plans—or nearly 60 percent of all Medicare Advantage plans—are health maintenance organizations (HMOs). This is a slight decrease from the number of HMOs in 2021, but still, these results continue the trend of Medicare Advantage HMO popularity from 2021 open enrollment.

More plans were available to Medicare beneficiaries in 2022 compared to previous years. In 2022, beneficiaries could access on average 39 plans, setting a record for the past decade by exceeding the number of plan options that beneficiaries could access in 2010 (31 plans) and 2021 (33 plans). Approximately 31 of those plans included a Medicare prescription drug plan.

Nearly six out of ten plans that are Medicare Advantage-prescription drug plans will charge no premium aside from the Medicare Part B premium in 2022, giving nearly every Medicare Advantage enrollee access to a zero-dollar premium plan. The average Medicare Advantage premium is expected to drop to $19 per month in 2022.

Medicare Advantage plans also have the flexibility to offer additional benefits, which many are using to offer benefits such as vision, hearing, dental and social determinants of health benefits not available in fee-for-service Medicare.

According to KFF, 95 percent of individual Medicare Advantage plans and 92 percent of special needs plans will offer telehealth benefits. Three-quarters of individual Medicare Advantage plans and two-thirds of special needs plans will provide remote access technologies. 

Nearly the same share of individual and special needs Medicare Advantage plans will offer meal benefits. However, while 87 percent of special needs plans will offer transportation benefits, only 38 percent of individual Medicare Advantage plans will do this same.

Most Medicare Advantage individual health plans will not offer special supplemental benefits for the chronically ill. Special needs plans are more likely to offer these benefits than individual health plans.

Approximately one-fifth of all special needs plans will provide food and produce benefits, whereas only 6.6 percent of individual health plans will do the same, for example. Additionally, 14.6 percent of Medicare Advantage special needs plans will handle pest control for beneficiaries, compared to 5.1 percent of individual health plans.

“With more firms offering SNPs and the number of SNPs rapidly growing, there may be greater focus on how well high-need, vulnerable beneficiaries are being served by Medicare Advantage plans, including SNPs as well as plans for general enrollment,” the researchers noted.

Other studies have corroborated that Medicare Advantage plans have out-of-pocket healthcare spending for beneficiaries than fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries, extending beyond premium costs. A Better Medicare Alliance report discovered that Medicare Advantage plans have 13 to 14 percent lower costs than in fee-for-service Medicare.

When major payers released their Medicare Advantage offerings for 2022, it was clear that they were leaning into the advantages of benefit card offerings. 

Aetna will be offering a utilities benefit card for dual special needs plan members as well as an Aetna Medicare payment card through PayFlex to help cover specialty care copayments and in-network primary care copays. Humana also offers a Humana Flex Card Visa debit card to eligible members and the Humana Healthy Foods Card gives members an allowance for nutritious foods.