Health insurers are expected to make it more difficult on Presidential candidates pushing single payer versions of “Medicare for All” after they added hundreds of thousands of seniors to their private Medicare Advantage plans this year.
New benefits for seniors under Medicare Advantage began Wednesday, the first day of the 2020 New Year, in what has already been a record for the number of health plans participating in a program that offers seniors the same benefits as traditional Medicare plus extras like preventative care and outpatient healthcare services.
This new Medicare Advantage enrollment comes as most Democrats running for their party’s nomination for the Presidency back off a single payer version of Medicare for All that would uproot the private insurance industry.
In Iowa, for example, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont continues to push single payer Medicare, but former Vice President Joe Biden has launched ads in recent weeks in touting an effort to build on existing coverage under the Affordable Care Act, which offers subsidies for private coverage and has expanded Medicaid, mostly through private insurers. Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, once considered a single payer “purist” has backed off moving all Americans to a government-run healthcare system in favor of first bolstering the ACA and introducing a public option, as the Washington Post reported less than two months ago.
The lack of momentum for a single payer version of Medicare for All among Democrats vying to challenge President Donald Trump should Republicans re-nominate him isn’t lost on health plans signing up seniors to Medicare Advantage.
“You deal with the facts as they are today,” Centene CEO Michael Neidorff said last month in an interview at the 2019 Forbes Healthcare Summit in New York. “Things like Medicare for All, I view as a sound bite. Even some of the candidates are backing off of it.”
Centene is poised to gain a stronger foothold in the Medicare Advantage business once its acquisition of WellCare Health Plans is approved this year. Centene’s rivals in the health insurance business including Anthem, the Aetna unit of CVS Health, Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealth Group. All of these big health insurers as well as smaller plans and startups are also expected to see big gains in Medicare Advantage enrollment this year.
These insurers have been selling perhaps their richest benefit packages for Medicare Advantage, thanks to new rules that allow Medicare Advantage plans to offer more benefits to seniors. Medicare Advantage plans contract with the federal government to provide extra benefits and services to seniors, such as disease management and nurse help hotlines with some also offering vision, dental care and wellness programs.
Beginning this month, health insurers are going to begin reporting their fourth quarter 2019 earnings and updated outlooks for 2020, which are expected to include robust numbers from Medicare Advantage enrollment. UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurer, will be the first to report on Jan. 15.
Given the expansions of many established health plans into new regions and an increasing number of new entrants and startups selling Medicare Advantage, enrollment for 2020 is expected to eclipse 2019’s record. Enrollment last year in Medicare Advantage plans surpassed 22 million, which is 35% of total Medicare beneficiaries and it’s expected to reach 24 million for the 2020 plan year.
And any additional enrollment for 2020 will be difficult to uproot as candidates are finding out on the Presidential campaign trail.
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