Mark Farrah Associates Assesses 2016 Medicare Market Landscape

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Sep 22, 2015, 06:00 ET

KENNEBUNK, Maine, Sept. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- In preparation for the fast approaching Annual Election Period, Mark Farrah Associates (MFA) www.markfarrah.com is analyzing data from the 2016 Medicare Landscape Files released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week. A total of 2,174 distinct Medicare Advantage (MA) plans are in the market lineup for 2016, an increase of 90 plans over 2015. With more than 17.6 million beneficiaries already enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan and another 37 million eligible, the Medicare market continues to be a key target for health insurance business.

Many Medicare Advantage plans are designed to be marketed in select, targeted geographic regions while others are approved to be offered on a broader, nationwide basis. For 2016, HMOs continue to be the dominant plan type, comprising 67% of all plan offerings, and the number of distinct HMO plans will increase to 1,463 for 2016. Twenty-four percent of plans are Local PPOs while Cost, PFFS plans and Regional PPOs have a much smaller presence in the marketplace.

2016 Medicare Advantage Preview

MA Plan Type	2015 Plan Count	2016 Plan Count	2016 Percent
HMO	1,358	1463	67%
Local PPO	521	516	24%
Cost	86	81	4%
PFFS	69	63	3%
Regional PPO	43	47	2%
MSA	7	4	0%
Total	2,084	2,174	100%
Source: Mark Farrah Associates' analysis of CMS Landscape Source Files; excludes sanctioned plans, PACE, SNPs and employer-sponsored plans. Plans are counted as distinct company records by Contract-Plan-Segment ID without geographic distribution.

The Annual Election Period (AEP) or open enrollment for Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plans will begin on October 15, 2015 and competitors are gearing up to promote 2016 benefit plans. As Medicare companies finalize sales and marketing strategies, they look forward to the release of the Medicare Plan Finder data on or around October 1^st. Though Plan Finder is an online tool designed to help seniors shop for and select new Medicare plans, the benefits data is also a rich market analysis resource for the industry. Analysts within Medicare plans use the detailed benefit attributes including benefit copays and cost-sharing, plan by plan, to assess competition and opportunity, county by county. Comparative analysis of this nature provides invaluable competitive intelligence for Medicare plans preparing to promote and sell their products. Mark Farrah Associates is standing by to collect the 2016 Plan Finder data upon CMS release on or around October 1, 2015 to make plan benefits detail by county available to Medicare Benefits Analyzer™ subscribers as quickly as possible.

Mark Farrah Associates maintains the Medicare Benefits Analyzer ™ database to make it easier for companies to access and use Plan Finder data. The 2016 Landscape data will be uploaded this month followed by the 2016 Plan Finder data in early October. Subscribers may query tables presenting plan benefit comparisons or download large datasets using the file export interface. When CMS releases the 2016 Star Quality Ratings on or around October 8th, this highly important data will immediately complement the 2016 data available in Medicare Benefits Analyzer™. Subscribers also have access to Medicare Business Online™ for tracking month-to-month MA and PDP enrollment changes. For more information, visit our website at www.markfarrah.com or call 724.338.4100 for more information.

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SOURCE Mark Farrah Associates