Employer-Group Medicare Advantage Year-to-Date Enrollment Updates

November 3, 2022

Nearly 29.8 million people were enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans as of October 1, 2022, representing a growing share of the 64.7 million Americans eligible for Medicare. Individual MA policies, acquired through direct purchase, covered approximately 24.7 million members, as of October 1, 2022. While individual policies dominate the MA market, MA employer-group retiree programs, also known as Medicare Advantage Employer Group Waiver Plans (MA-EGWP, EGHP, or Group MA), continue to experience steady enrollment increases. Group MA currently encompasses 17.2% of the total MA market.

Employer-group MA enrollment has grown to over 5.1 million members, an increase of nearly 156,000, or 3%, since December of 2021. Furthermore, group market enrollment has grown by approximately 652,000 members since December of 2019. In this brief, Mark Farrah Associates (MFA) analyzes previous yearend employer Group MA enrollment reports with recent enrollment reports from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Group MA Enrollment Trends by Carrier and State

As employers, unions, and government agencies continue to move retirees from self-insured Medicare Supplement (Medicare Wrap or Medigap) plans to fully insured MA plans, competition within the Group MA market segment remains strong. All five leading Group MA health insurers achieved significant growth in membership over the past four years. Overall, the top five companies gained over 639,000 beneficiaries, equating to a 17.1% enrollment increase, when 2022 data is compared to 2019.

• UnitedHealth has maintained its position as the Group MA segment leader with over 1.6 million members, as of October 2022, adding over 153,000 new enrollees since yearend 2021, a 10% growth rate.
   
• CVS showed little growth since 2021, only gaining 1.3%, or about 15,000 new enrollees year to date (YTD) in 2022. CVS added just over 71,000 new enrollees between 2020 and 2021.
   
• Kaiser experienced a slight YTD growth of 0.5%, or approximately 2,700 members. The company has continued to see moderate gains since 2019.
   
• Much like Kaiser, Humana grew very little from year-end 2021, increasing enrollment by only 3,600, or 0.7%. However, from December of 2019 through October of 2022, the insurer has increased MA group enrollment by over 41,000 enrollees (8.1%).
   
• Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Michigan’s Group MA enrollment was over 454,000, as of October 2022, a 2.1% YTD growth. Primarily due to the State of Michigan’s retiree healthcare plan switching many of its Medicare-eligible retirees to a MA plan, effective January 1, 2020, BCBS of Michigan’s Group MA enrollment increased nearly 17% between 2019 and 2020.
   

As per the chart above, between December 2019 and October 2022, the U.S and its territories experienced a 14.6% overall growth rate in Group MA market enrollment. All the leading ten states, by enrollment, experienced membership increases, with California (CA) continuing to top the list at nearly 685,000 members. Between December 2019 and October 2022, Texas (TX) had the largest percentage increase in Group MA enrollment, 19%, representing approximately 62,000 enrollees.

About this Data

This brief is based on an analysis of employer-group enrollment data for Medicare Advantage plans released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Mark Farrah Associates’ Medicare Business Online™ simplifies the tracking of monthly Medicare Advantage and PDP enrollment by competitor. Enrollment data is updated monthly as soon as CMS releases new data.

About Mark Farrah Associates (MFA)

Mark Farrah Associates (MFA) is a leading data aggregator and publisher providing health plan market data and analysis tools for the healthcare industry. Our product portfolio includes Health Coverage Portal™, County Health Coverage™, Medicare Business Online™, Medicare Benefits Analyzer™, 5500 Employer Health ^PLUS, and Health Plans USA™. For more information about these products, refer to the informational videos and brochures, available under the Our Products section of the website (www.markfarrah.com) or call 724-338-4100.

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