Medicare Advantage Enrollment Update 2017.

Area of Science:

• Health Policy Analysis
• Rural Health
• Medicare Program

Background:

• Medicare Advantage (MA) plans offer an alternative to traditional Medicare.
• Understanding enrollment trends is crucial for policy development and resource allocation.
• Rural beneficiaries represent a significant demographic within the Medicare program.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze annual trends in Medicare Advantage enrollment among rural beneficiaries.
• To identify new developments and patterns in MA plan selection in non-metropolitan areas.
• To provide data-driven insights for the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis.

Main Methods:

• Annual reporting based on data through March.
• Analysis of Medicare beneficiary enrollment in MA plans.
• Examination of enrollment proportions across different MA plan types (HMO, PPO, PFFS, etc.).

Main Results:

• Nationally, one in three Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in MA; in non-metropolitan areas, nearly one in four (23.5%) are enrolled.
• MA enrollment has consistently increased in both metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas since 2004.
• Between 2015-2017, non-metropolitan enrollment in HMOs slightly increased (28.5% to 29.8%), while PFFS enrollment decreased (5.6% to 3.8%).

Conclusions:

• Medicare Advantage enrollment continues to grow across all geographic areas.
• Shifts in plan type preferences are occurring among rural Medicare beneficiaries.
• The RUPRI Center's annual reports provide essential data on these evolving trends.