(Newswire.net — September 8, 2019) — Before we begin with a detailed analysis of how the Medicare advantage plans are growing, let us get a quick overview of the fundamental concept underlying these schemes and the changes that it has gone through. The Medicare Advantage plans have been designed to aid the senior citizens with their medical and healthcare bills whose insurances are sold by private companies as an alternative to the traditional plans that were government-funded. In 2010, an amendment in this law ordered the Federal payments to be lowered by billion dollars as a result of which the analysts prophesized that the number of subscribers enrolled with the private insurance company would drop down sharply, but to their surprise, the members multiplied steeply.
The rate of growth
Every year, the market is witnessing the enrollment of new insurers who are willing to furnish their senior members with increased and improved benefits to expand their reach. In 2019, 14 new companies are selling the Medicare Advantage Plans which is far more than the usual number recorded through a year and has made around 3,700 plans available for the seniors that allow them to follow their medical requirements and accordingly customize a scheme. A crucial pointer that has attracted more number of enrollees in the previous and present year is that even if the cost of their plans is increased at some point the year if a senior has already enrolled, he will not have to pay any extra charges but, can still enjoy the added benefits. If the new companies keep performing as efficiently as their predecessors, then, the growth rate between 2018 and 2019 would be close to 12% or even more than that.
The growing cost of medical needs and improvement in living conditions have led the insurance companies to rely mostly on the medical industry that on some level assures incessant enrollees and constant scope of innovation thus relieving it from the dark dungeons of the stagnant status that is not uncommon in the other sectors. This has also resulted in some nonprofit hospitals offering Medicare plans to patients who choose them time and again. There is a wide array of options for the Advantage plans that a person can choose from, but companies like Humana, UnitedHealthcare and Aetna top the list when it comes to acquiring the highest number of seniors around the country.
Benefits furnished
The Medicare Advantage plans are cladded with benefits for the seniors; they cover the extra charges claimed at procuring inevitable needs such as prescription drugs, vaccines, and vision and hearing aids thus relieving them from all the added ordeals. Apart from this the Health companies also grew by formulating methods that identify the health conditions and risks from time to time thereby legitimizing them to the federal “risk-adjustment” payments which in turn has procured a steeping upward graph of revenue collection through the Medicare plans.
The broader vision
Therefore, we can conclude by stating that the new private insurers are illustrating new techniques and plan to sell their insurances to the seniors and emerge as growing brands. Some of the strategies that are being implemented to improve the competition are:
- In the case of the new insurers, attracting beneficiaries who have been under pre-existing companies for long can pose several challenges. So, to switch the enrollees, they are planning to offer a wide range of benefits including increment in the number of doctors and hospitals in which the advantages of the insurances can be capitalized on and also allow consultation with a specialist even without permission from the primary care doctor.
- The companies are reaching out to the dark-skinned and Hispanics population who were kept away from the limelight for long.