Mark Farrah Associates Reports on the 2016 Medicare Advantage Market

KENNEBUNK, Maine, Oct. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Mark Farrah Associates (MFA), www.markfarrah.com, released an analysis brief presenting a snapshot of the 2016 Medicare Advantage market.  The brief discusses the latest Medicare market penetration statistics and offers 2016 product insights from the Medicare Landscape reports.  It also presents an overview of companies that will be vying for business during the Annual Election Period (AEP).  Mark Farrah Associates assembles Medicare Plan Finder data from the Medicare.gov website in their Medicare Benefits Analyzer ^TM product to give customers 24/7 access to the 2016 Medicare Plan Finder data and Star Quality Ratings.

The Managed Medicare market has a strong foothold with currently more than 24 million seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans.  In the last three years, MA plans picked up about 3.2 million members and these carriers currently cover 31% of all those eligible for Medicare benefits.  With the October 15^th kick off of the 2016 open enrollment period, health plans invested in this segment are heavily focused on enrolling beneficiaries shopping for a new plan.  The Medicare Plan Finder (MPF) data, released on October 1st, is an important tool that helps plans to analyze competitor copays and cost-sharing in local markets. 

Based on an assessment of the 2016 CMS landscape reports, MFA reported that 2,174 distinct Medicare Advantage (MA) plan offerings are in the market lineup for the onset of the 2016 AEP.  This includes many national health plans, Blue Cross Blue Shield organizations, prominent regional health plans and specialized Medicare companies.  Eighty-seven percent of MA offerings will include Part D coverage and monthly premiums range from $0 to greater than $200.  Thirty-seven percent of 2016 MA plans (excluding SNPs), are available at the $0 plan premium level,  25% of all plans will be charging monthly premiums ranging from $2 to $50 and 21% of plan premiums are in the $51 to $100 range.  Only 17% or 360 plans are charging monthly premiums greater than $100. 

Star Quality Ratings showcase plan performance.  CMS now attaches financial incentives to the ratings for plans earning four or more stars and Medicare companies often engage consultants to help them refine their strategy for increasing ratings through product development.  For 2016, twelve MAPD plans, those that include drug coverage, achieved five star ratings for overall plan performance.

In order to make it easier for Medicare plans to assess Medicare Plan Finder data and Star Quality Ratings, Mark Farrah Associates (MFA) maintains data in a comparative database format in its Medicare Benefits Analyzer ^TM product.  2016 Plan Finder and Star Quality Ratings data is online now.  Visit our website at www.markfarrah.com or call 724-338-4100 for more information.

To read the full text of "The Competitive Landscape for 2016 Medicare Business", visit the Analysis Briefs library on Mark Farrah Associates' website.

About Mark Farrah Associates (MFA)

MFA is a leading data aggregator and publisher providing health plan market data and analysis tools for the healthcare industry.  Committed to simplifying analysis of health insurance business, our products include Medicare Business Online™, Medicare Benefits Analyzer™ Health Coverage Portal™, County Health Coverage™, Health Insurer Insights™, and Health Plans USA™.

Mark Farrah Associates
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SOURCE Mark Farrah Associates