Although Medicare Advantage insurers were somewhat slow to adopt newly expanded supplemental benefits in 2019, recent analyses of 2021 benefit offerings indicate large jumps in the uptake of certain offerings while others remain stagnant.
According to an analysis of available plan benefit package (PBP) data from CMS, Milliman estimates that 575 unique plans in 2021 are offering at least one of the following benefits: adult day health services, home-based palliative care, in-home support services, support for caregivers of enrollees, and therapeutic massage. That’s compared with just 102 plans offering a benefit in one of these categories in 2019, Milliman observes.
By Lauren Flynn Kelly
Although Medicare Advantage insurers were somewhat slow to adopt newly expanded supplemental benefits in 2019, recent analyses of 2021 benefit offerings indicate large jumps in the uptake of certain offerings while others remain stagnant.
According to an analysis of available plan benefit package (PBP) data from CMS, Milliman estimates that 575 unique plans in 2021 are offering at least one of the following benefits: adult day health services, home-based palliative care, in-home support services, support for caregivers of enrollees, and therapeutic massage. That’s compared with just 102 plans offering a benefit in one of these categories in 2019, Milliman observes.
Looking at a wider array of benefits that include acupuncture, dental and hearing, Avalere Health’s analysis of CMS data estimates that 4,494 PBPs in 2021 are offering supplemental benefits at the contract-plan-segment level, up from 2,888 PBPs in 2018 and 3,440 in 2019. Tom Kornfield, a senior consultant with Avalere, saysone of the most telling findings from the analysis is that meal delivery benefits have consistently grown, rising from 23% of 2018 PBPs to 57% of PBPs next year, while nutrition/wellness offerings have stayed relatively stagnant and are offered by just 19% of PBPs for 2021.
Meanwhile, “the big 3 supplemental benefits (vision, hearing, and dental) are now almost universally available (98%, 94%, and 91%, respectively),” writes Avalere. And while telehealth as a supplemental benefit has remained at a low 7% since 2018, now that MA plans are able to include additional telehealth services as a basic Medicare benefit in their bid submissions to be paid for by Medicare, 59% of plans this year have additional telehealth benefits available for Medicare-covered Part B services. In 2021 this number will jump to 94%, according to Avalere’s analysis.
The analysis also observes that one-third of MA plans (34%) will offer a variety of supplemental benefits related to the COVID-19 pandemic next year. The most popular version of these benefits includes “care/relief packages.”
To the extent that those benefits attract new enrollees, “it certainly could help, but I don’t know that it’s going to be the overarching decision” point, says Kornfield. It’s more likely that drug coverage, physician networks and projected out-of-pocket costs will remain top factors for consumers, he suggests.