Medicare Advantage Plans Offering Expanded Supplemental Benefits: A Look at Availability and Enrollment

Commonwealth Fund February 10, 2021
Thomas Kornfield, Matt Kazan, Miryam Frieder, Robin Duddy-Tenbrunsel, Shruthi Donthi, Alessandra Fix

Toplines

A growing, yet limited, percentage of Medicare Advantage plans offer expanded supplemental benefits that address social determinants of health

Policymakers and Medicare Advantage plans are continuing to evaluate if expanded supplemental benefits are sufficient to address beneficiaries’ unmet needs

ABSTRACT

• Issue: Since 2019, Medicare Advantage (MA) plans have had the flexibility to address enrollees’ unmet needs by targeting benefits to beneficiaries with chronic illnesses and offering a wider array of “primarily health-related” benefits. As of 2020, plans can also offer Special Supplemental Benefits for the Chronically Ill (SSBCI) — nonmedical services such as pest control.
• Goals: To assess the availability of and enrollment in MA plans offering new types of supplemental benefits in 2019 and 2020.
• Methods: Analysis...

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