Curbing the Marketing Problem in Medicare Advantage

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Medicare Advantage marketing has been under fire for its dishonest tactics in targeting beneficiaries.

A report by the Commonwealth Fund found that CMS reported more than 41,000 complaints in 2021 about Medicare private plan marketing, which doubled 2020 and dwarfed 2017’s figure of 6,000.

CMS made marketing a priority in its Medicare Advantage final rule for 2024, which includes restricting any ads that do not mention a plan name or use confusing imagery.