Employer-Group Medicare Advantage Year-to-Date Enrollment Increase of 6%

November 23, 2021

Nearly 28 million people were enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans as of November 1, 2021, representing a growing share of the 63.6 million Americans eligible for Medicare. Individual MA policies, acquired through direct purchase, covered approximately 22.7 million members, as of November 1, 2021. 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 18% of the total MA market.

Employer-group MA enrollment has grown to over 4.9 million members, an increase of over 279,000, or 6%, since December of 2020. Furthermore, group market enrollment has grown by approximately 817,000 members since December of 2018. 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 800,000 beneficiaries, equating to a 24% enrollment increase when 2021 data is compared to 2018.

• UnitedHealth has maintained its position as the Group MA segment leader with over 1.5 million members, as of November 2021. It added nearly 196,000 new enrollees since yearend 2020, a 15% growth rate.
   
• CVS/Aetna grew to over 1.1 million enrollees, gaining 7% year to date (YTD) in 2021. CVS/Aetna added nearly 219,000 new enrollees between 2018 and 2019, due in part to the conversion of the New Jersey (NJ) state employee retirees’ account to Aetna’s MA plans.
   
• Kaiser experienced a slight YTD growth of 0.9%, or approximately 5,000 members. The company has continued to see moderate gains since 2018.
   
• Humana was the only top Group MA insurer to experience an enrollment decrease, from year-end 2020, losing approximately 51,000 members, or -8.5%. However, from December of 2018 through November of 2021, the insurer has increased MA group enrollment by 65,000 enrollees (13%).
   
• Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Michigan’s Group MA enrollment was over 445,000, as of November 2021, a 0.8% YTD growth. Since December of 2018, the company experienced an overall Group MA membership increase of 20%.
   

As per the chart above, between December 2018 and November 2021, the U.S and its territories experienced a 19.7% 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 667,000 members. New Jersey (NJ) had the largest increase in Group MA enrollment, at 75%, between December 2018 and November 2021. This was primarily due to the conversion of many NJ state and union retirees to MA products.

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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