Deft’s Medicare OEP and Disenrollment Prevention Study, a supplemental study to the annual Medicare Shopping and Switching Study, surveyed more than 2,400 Medicare Advantage (MA) members to understand which early plan experiences are most associated with attrition risk during a new member’s first 90 days.
Here are three findings from the report:
High switch rates continued during OEP: George Dippel, president, Deft Research, noted in the executive brief, that the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) saw the highest MA switch rate in several cycles. But after plans were able to enroll new members, they found many of the consumers boomerang out of these plans during OEP.
Indeed, 24 percent of members who enrolled in a new January 1 plan switched out of it during OEP, according to the report. “This year is far from the first disappointing OEP: the market has generated similar turnover in most years since the OEP’s reinstatement. This churn is tiring for everyone involved; the real questions surround what can be done about it,” Dippel wrote.
Seniors report they were “unwittingly switched” to other plans: Last year, 20 percent of seniors indicated they received unexpected onboarding materials from plans they did not intend to enroll in, according to the report. Even though the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services tried to curtail these unwanted switches by having agents record sales calls this year, the Deft study found that the percentage of consumers who said they received unexpected onboarding materials from a different carrier rose from the benchmark in 2022 to 23 percent.
Thinking about cutting benefits in the future? Whatever you do, don’t mess with this one: Knowing that plans may have to cut benefits in the future, the study looked at the benefits carriers cannot eliminate if they want to preserve enrollment. While seniors do not want to lose any benefits, some would be more detrimental to retention. The biggest benefit seniors don’t want to give up: Part B givebacks.
“Only 5 percent of our study population has a Part B giveback benefit today, but 45 percent of those listed the reduction of their giveback as a top three benefit change they would be most dissatisfied with, Dippel wrote. “Part B givebacks are one of the few benefits we saw associated with higher rates of switching last AEP in a tough inflationary environment. But removing those dollars in a tough reimbursement environment may jettison those members as fast as they dialed to ‘add’ that giveback benefit in the first place.”
For more information about the complete findings from the Medicare OEP and Disenrollment Prevention Study, click here.