Medicare Plan Finder for Competitive Analysis, Users Beware

KENNEBUNK, Maine--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Medicare Advantage and Part D plans are sizing up opportunities and analyzing the competition as they prepare to sell their products on the open market. With changes in the disenrollment timeframe, plans will have a shorter selling season this year. During this busy period from November 15th (onset of Annual Election Period) through February 14th (end of Annual Disenrollment Period), health insurers and prescription drug companies will be campaigning to retain members and prospecting for new ones.

Medicare companies typically begin intensive market analysis in October when CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) uploads new plan benefits and co-pays to Medicare Plan Finder. This online tool, designed to help beneficiaries compare coverage options, is also a valuable source of market knowledge for the Medicare plans' themselves. However users beware, the site doesn't lend itself to easy data analysis. In fact, a redesign earlier this year to afford beneficiaries more search customization makes Plan Finder less user-friendly as a competitive analysis tool. To help Medicare companies with this essential market analysis, Mark Farrah Associates (MFA), in partnership with Strenuus LLC, organizes Plan Finder data in an easy-to-use database, Medicare Benefits Analyzer™. To learn more contact Mark Farrah Associates at 207-985-8484.

Medicare plans report premiums, benefit details and co-pays in the Plan Finder to help seniors compare coverage choices. The information and data points are presented within these broad categories: estimated health plan costs, health plan benefits, estimated drug costs, prescription drug coverage, and optional supplemental benefits. When comparing Medicare Advantage options using Plan Finder data, the disparity in monthly premiums and out-of-pocket expense estimates can be quite significant across plans.

MFA recently released a market brief that presents some interesting findings related to the 2011 Medicare marketplace using Plan Finder data from Medicare Benefits Analyzer™. To read the full text of “Using Medicare Plan Finder for Competitive Analysis,” visit the Healthcare Business Strategy library on Mark Farrah Associates’ website www.markfarrah.com.

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™, Health Insurer Insights™ and Health Plans USA™.

Mark Farrah AssociatesDebra Donahue, 207-985-8484

Source: Mark Farrah Associates