Medicare HMO enrollment, benefits decline, premiums rise

Healthcare Financial Management, Feb, 2004

Substantially fewer Medicare beneficiaries are in private plans today than were in the late 1990s, Mathematica Policy Research reported in a December 2003 fact sheet, In 1999, 17.3 percent of Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in private plans; by late 2003, only 12.2 percent were so enrolled.

During the period between 1999 and 2003, the share of enrollees in plans with a zero premium option declined from 80 percent to 38 percent, and the average monthly premium increased sixfold--from $6 to $37. At the same time, the share of enrollees without prescription drug coverage increased from 16 percent to 31 percent. Another 28 percent were in plans that only covered generic drugs, and an additional 8 percent were in plans that limited brand-name coverage to $500 a year or less.

To obtain the Mathematica fact sheet, "Shifting Medicare Choices, 1999-2003," go to www. mathematica-mpr.com/ pdfs/fastfacts8.pdf.