Medicare Plan Annual Enrollment Period Begins Tuesday

What You Need to Know

In some markets, agents and brokers are coping with big waves of plan withdrawals or shrinking benefits.
Consumers appear to be weighing their plan options earlier in the period than usual.
The future of Medicare is a top priority for voters, a survey finds.

The annual enrollment period for Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans starts Tuesday and runs through Dec. 7. The question of the moment appears to be, “Is it really going to be that bad?”

In some markets, agents and brokers are coping with big waves of plan withdrawals.

In other markets, the main effect is shrinkage in extra dental and fitness center membership benefits.

But the Google Trends tracker shows that recent search activity for the term “Medicare Advantage” has been very high.

For Google, the all-time search activity peak for “Medicare Advantage” came during the week ending Oct. 21, 2023, when the annual enrollment period had already started and people were rushing to shop for coverage. Google gives “Medicare Advantage” search activity for that week a score of 100. The trend tracker tool rates activity for other weeks in terms of how they compare with the all-time peak week.

For the four-week period ending Oct. 5, the average “Medicare Advantage” search activity score was 73.75. That was up from 60.25 in 2023 and up from 45.5 in 2022.

For the week ending Oct. 5, before people could even sign up for plans, the search level soared to 86. That compares with 70 in the comparable week in 2023 and just 57 in the comparable week in 2022.

What it means: Consumers may be noticing the concern about Medicare plans and the plan change letters and studying their options early.

Issuer announcements: Plans have been sending change notices to enrollees, feeding summary data into giant spreadsheets managed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and summarizing what’s happening in press releases.

CVS Health’s Aetna unit will offer Medicare Advantage plans in 2,259 counties in 44 states and the District of Columbia, down from 2,269 counties in 46 states and the District of Columbia this year.

Cigna is offering Medicare Advantage plans in 29 states and the District of Columbia and Medicare supplement insurance policies in 48 states and the District of Columbia. The number of jurisdictions it serves has stayed the same.