Cavulus CEO Declares Medicare Advantage Upward Trend Gains Momentum During Latest Annual Election Period

PR Newswire

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As the dust settles from the Medicare Advantage Annual Election Period, the health insurance market added one million members to Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MAPD) product types according to Patrick Phillips, CEO of Cavulus, a leading technology firm serving the MA industry.

(PRNewsfoto/Cavulus)

"Our analysis is still underway, but it looks as if health insurance providers across the country were successful in attracting new members and converting stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP) members to Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare Advantage w/ Prescription Drug (MAPD) product types," says Phillips.

"Overall, PDP enrollment appears to be down more than 400,000 members from December 2019 to January 2020. However, enrollment in MA/MAPD products grew by more than 1 million new members in that same time frame. It's likely that PDP enrollees switched plan types and close to 600,000 additional beneficiaries purchased an MA product," Phillips explains.

The Cavulus executive observed that while long-standing industry giants like Humana, United, Anthem and CVS (who recently acquired Aetna) continued to dominate MA membership growth during the Annual Election Period, there were some substantial gains by newcomers and regional plans as well.

Phillips pointed to Devoted Health and regional organizations such as Alignment and Clover producing impressive results. "These examples prove that there's ample opportunity for new entrants who are delivering on customer service, innovative plan design, and other unique attributes that are clearly attracting beneficiaries," he said.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, "...in 2019, one-third (34%) of all Medicare beneficiaries – 22 million people" were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. Phillips says that "as of January 1st that number has eclipsed 24 million enrollees, which keeps Medicare Advantage on pace to account for 50% of all Medicare enrollment types by 2025."

"This is certainly an exciting time for Medicare Advantage," declared Phillips, "as baby boomers continue to find excellent value in these products, and as progressive new start-ups reinvigorate competition."

ABOUT CAVULUS - Cavulus is a technology driven specialist in Medicare Advantage insurance solutions. The Cavulus Cloud-based Medicare Advantage Platform (Cavulus MAP™) unifies marketing, sales and enrollment operations, and is utilized by many of America's top insurers, including several BlueCross/ BlueShield companies, UPMC Health Plan, Johns Hopkins, Lumeris and United Healthcare. For details visit: www.cavulus.com.

Media Inquiries: 800-760-6915

Email: info@cavulus.com

Patrick Phillips, CEO Cavulus (PRNewsfoto/Cavulus)