Google Sees Strong Shopper Interest in Medicare Advantage Plans

What You Need to Know

Agents and brokers face new marketing rules.
Quality rating changes have kneecapped some issuers.
Many consumers are searching for information about Medicare plans from one particular organization.

Consumers are gearing up to shop hard for Medicare plans for 2023, in spite of the effects of new Medicare program rules on marketing exuberance.

The open enrollment period for Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans starts Saturday and runs through Dec. 7.

The Google Trends tool shows that, in the past four years, search activity for the term “Medicare Advantage” peaked during the week ending Dec. 4, 2021, as consumers were locking in coverage for 2022.

The Google Trends activity level for “Medicare Advantage” stands at 76% this year, which is the same activity level Google Trends showed for the week ending Oct. 16, 2021, as the open enrollment period for 2022 was beginning.

The median activity level for “Medicare Advantage” over the past four years has been 37% of the Dec. 4, 2021, weak peak.

Search activity for plans offered by AARP, the CVS Health Aetna unit and Humana have been especially strong. AARP has higher Google Trends scores than any other issuer or distributor for both Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare supplement insurance policies.

What It Means

For insurers and Medicare plan agents, this could be a good year for Medicare plan sales.

For financial advisors, the implication is that Medicare plan marketing efforts may continue to have a major effect on how clients think about health care, insurance and financial services arrangements in general.

The TPMO Factor

For the past two years, major television marketing campaigns helped shape Medicare plan sales.

Some consumers complained about misleading ads and confusing lead-generation efforts.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services responded by setting new regulations for “third-party marketing organizations.” Agents and brokers now must give customers warnings about any limitations on the menu of local plans they offer, and they must record their calls with consumers.

Some of the major national Medicare plan sales companies seem to have reduced the size of their operations.

Star Ratings

CMS recently changed the methods it uses to calculate star ratings, or quality ratings, for Medicare plans.

Some companies’ plans suffered sharp enough drops in star ratings to affect how they do business.

Medical Supplement Insurance

One popular alternative to Medicare Advantage plans is combining Original Medicare with Medicare supplement insurance.

The median Google Trends activity level for the search term, “Medicare supplement” is 18% of the peak activity level for the term “Medicare Advantage.”

The activity level for “Medicare supplement” is now 25%, down from 32% for the week ending Oct. 16, 2021.

A comparison of the activity level for “Medicare Advantage” and “Medicare supplement” shows that the activity level for “Medicare supplement” has dropped a little. The activity level for “Medicare Advantage” has increased, leading to bigger differences between search activity for “Medicare Advantage” and “Medicare supplement.”

The Issuers

Here’s a look at what some health insurers are saying about their 2023 Medicare Advantage plan menus and operations:

Aetna, an arm of Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based CVS Health, will increase the number of counties where it offers Medicare Advantage plans in 2023 by 141, to 2,014.

It also will be expanding its Aetna Medicare Eagle Medicare Advantage plans, which are designed for military veterans and wrap around Veterans Affairs health care coverage.