Medicare+Choice: Trends in Benefits and Premiums

The Medicare+Choice program (renamed Medicare Advantage in 2004) originally attracted beneficiaries because it provided pharmaceutical benefits and relatively low premiums. After an expansion of managed care benefits in the mid-1990s, however, benefits shrank. Medicare had reduced its annual increases in health plan payments, and provider concerns and other factors created market challenges.

Since 1997, Mathematica has been analyzing changes in plan benefits and premiums for the Commonwealth Fund. Reports focus on plans shifting more costs to enrollees, plan withdrawals and trends in benefits and premiums, and estimated out-of-pocket health care expenses for beneficiaries.

Analyses are based on a database created with publicly available data from Medicare Compare, a consumer-oriented summary of information on Medicare+Choice plans, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' state/county/plan file. The data reflect benefits, beneficiary cost-sharing requirements, and enrollment levels by county.

Other reports available from this series are:

"Trends in Premiums, Cost-Sharing, and Benefits in M+C Plans, 1999-2001"
"M+C in 2000: Will Enrollees Spend More and Receive Less?"

For printed copies, contact Jackie Allen at (609) 275-2350.

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