Over 1.1 million people are currently enrolled in a 2019 Medicare Advantage plan (MA and MAPD) that is not renewing its contract with the government and these people may lose their 2020 Medicare plan coverage - unless they enroll into another Medicare plan. In addition, 3 million other people will be automatically moved from their current 2019 Medicare plan to another 2020 Medicare plan.
What are non-renewing Medicare plans?
Each year, Medicare plans have the option of not renewing their Medicare contract. When this happens, the Medicare plan can be discontinued across the country or in a specific service area (state or ZIP code). If a Medicare beneficiary is enrolled in a non-renewing Medicare plan, they may be without Medicare plan coverage for the entire year (all of 2020) unless they enroll in a different Medicare plan during the annual Open Enrollment Period (the AEP starts October 15th and continues through December 7th) or have access to a Special Enrollment Period allowing them to change plans outside of the AEP.
Why is your 2019 Medicare plan not offered in 2020?
Your 2019 Medicare plan may be discontinued (non-renewing) due to several different reasons:
- Plan Consolidation
When multiple Medicare plans from one company are brought together into one plan, or a Medicare Part D plan from one company may be merged together with a Medicare Part D plan from another company. Members will be automatically "crosswalked" to (or merged into) a new 2020 Medicare plan.
- Service Area Reduction (SAR)
Medicare plans have the option to discontinue their plan in specific service areas of the country. The Medicare plan's affected service area may be an entire state, specific counties, or ZIP codes. It is possible that plan members in some areas will remain in the Medicare plan and the plan will be discontinued in other areas.
In some cases, a discontinued plan will "crosswalk" plan members to a new Medicare plan, but, in other cases, the members of a discontinued 2019 plan will be without coverage if they do not select a new 2020 Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan. Remember, there is a Service Area Reduction Special Enrollment Period (SAR SEP) starting on December 8th and continuing through the end of February allowing you the possibility of enrolling in a 2020 Medicare plan after the December 7th close of the annual Open Enrollment Period (AEP).
- Terminated Medicare Plans
Sometimes an insurance company will choose to terminate a specific Medicare plan or it is possible that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will terminate an insurance company's contract and the Medicare plan will no longer be offered. All members of a terminated 2019 Medicare plan will need to choose a new Medicare plan or be without coverage in 2020.
- Almost 3 million people are being crosswalked to a new Medicare plan.
Approximately 744,400 members in non-renewing 2019 stand-alone Medicare prescription drug plans (PDPs) and an additional 2,069,600 members in non-renewing Medicare Advantage plans (MA and MAPDs) will be automatically "crosswalked" to new 2020 Medicare plans.
- Over 1.1 million people are loosing their coverage if they do not select a new Medicare plan.
Approximately 1.12 million members are currently enrolled in 2019 Medicare Advantage plans that will be terminated in 2020. These members will NOT be crosswalked and will be without 2020 coverage if they do not actively enroll in a new Medicare Advantage plan.
If members do not join another Medicare plan, they may find themselves automatically moved (or crosswalked) into another Medicare plan at the start of the next plan year, or they will be without coverage.
We will first look at stand-alone Medicare Part D plans (PDPs) and further down in this article, we will discuss Medicare Advantage plans (MAs and MAPDs).
Important changes to 2019 stand-alone Medicare Part D plans (PDP)
- All discontinued 2019 Medicare Part D Prescription Drug plans will crosswalk members to other Part D plans.
- 744,427 members in the 104 PDPs (5 different plans) will be crosswalked to a new PDP
in 2020. Below is a chart highlighting some of the stand-alone Medicare
Prescription Drug plan "crosswalks" for 2020.
- 6,251,297 members in the 190 PDPs (11 different plans) will find the name of their 2020 plan is different from 2019 -- with significant changes in plan coverage.
You can review 2020 Medicare prescription drug only plan changes using: PDP-Compare.com/2020.
Examples of 2019 Part D plans being crosswalked into other plans in 2020.
| Crosswalked stand-alone Medicare Part D plans (PDPs) (with the number of plan members impacted) |
||
| Plan Name | States | Members Affected |
| Humana Enhanced (PDP) members crosswalked to Humana Premier Rx Plan (PDP) | in all states | 656,493 |
| SilverScript Allure (PDP) members crosswalked to SilverScript Choice (PDP) | in all states | 30,172 |
| WellCare Extra (PDP) members crosswalked to WellCare Medicare Rx Value Plus (PDP) | in all states | 54,703 |
Examples of 2019 Medicare Part D plans changing names (and coverage) in 2020.
| Stand-alone Medicare Part D plans (PDPs) with name changes and possibly significant feature changes |
||
| Plan Name | States | Members Affected |
| Aetna Medicare Rx Saver (PDP) will become WellCare Medicare Rx Saver (PDP) |
in all states | 1,195,698 |
| Aetna Medicare Rx Select (PDP) will become WellCare Medicare Rx Select (PDP) |
in all states | 708,551 |
| Aetna Medicare Rx Value Plus (PDP) will become WellCare Medicare Rx Value Plus (PDP) |
in all states | 477,088 |
| EnvisionRxPlus (PDP) will become EnvisionRxSecure (PDP) |
DC DE MD | 95,691 |
| Humana Enhanced (PDP) will become Humana Premier Rx Plan (PDP) | PR | 4,873 |
| Humana Preferred Rx Plan (PDP) will become Humana Basic Rx Plan (PDP) | in all states | 1,605,119 |
| Humana Walmart Rx Plan (PDP) will become Humana Premier Rx Plan (PDP) | in all states | 1,974,067 |
Important changes to 2019 Medicare Advantage plan (MA and MAPD) - plan mergers and terminations
- 337 Medicare Advantage plans will be discontinued in 2020 without crosswalking members to other plans. These current plan members will need to select another 2020 Medicare plan or possibly be without Medicare plan coverage through 2020.
- How many people are affected by discontinued Medicare Advantage plans?
1,119,917 Medicare Advantage plan members in the 337 Medicare Advantage plans terminating in 2020, will find that their 2019 Medicare Advantage plan will not be offered in 2020.
- In addition, 2,069,619 plan members in 279 Medicare Advantage plans will be crosswalked to a new Medicare Advantage plan in 2020. The vast majority of crosswalks are to similarly named plans, however plan member are still strongly encouraged to review the features of their new plan.
- Bottom Line: Many counties across the country will see significant changes in their Medicare Advantage plan landscape. You can review 2020 Medicare Advantage plan changes using our MA-Compare tool found here: MA-Compare.com/2020.
Examples of some of the 2020 Medicare Advantage plan "crosswalks".
| Examples of Medicare Advantage plan Reassignments | |||
| 2019 Medicare Advantage Plan | New 2020 Medicare Advantage Plan | State(s) | Members Affected |
| AARP MedicareComplete Choice Plan 2 (Regional PPO) |
AARP Medicare Advantage Choice Plan 2 (Regional PPO) |
67 Counties in FL | 116,659 |
| Blue Medicare HMO Enhanced (HMO) | Blue Medicare Enhanced (HMO) | 55 Counties in NC | 24,243 |
| AARP MedicareComplete Plan 1 (HMO) | AARP Medicare Advantage Walgreens Plan 1 (HMO) H1111-009 | 13 Counties in GA | 12,924 |
| Advantra Advantage (HMO) | Aetna Medicare Premier (HMO) H2663-026 | 1 County in KS | 2,334 |
| Community Blue Medicare PPO Signature (PPO) | Community Blue Medicare PPO Distinct (PPO) H3916-035-3 | 9 Counties in PA | 2,147 |
| Fallon Senior Plan Saver Enhanced Rx (HMO-POS) | Fallon Medicare Plus Green HMO (HMO) H9001-030-11 | 2 Counties in MA | 3,362 |
| WellCare Essential (HMO) | WellCare Today's Options Classic (HMO) H4868-001 | 4 Counties in NY | 2,037 |
Need a faster way to see if your Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan is changing in 2020?
Our PDP-Compare and MA-Compare tools allow you to compare annual 2019/2020 changes in all stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans (PDPs) or Medicare Advantage plans (MAs or MAPDs) across the country showing changes in monthly premiums and plan design changes, as well as changes in co-payments or co-insurance rates for different drug tiers along with the most recent Medicare quality star ratings.
Both the PDP-Compare and MA-Compare also show the Medicare Part D plans or Medicare Advantage plans that will be merged, discontinued, or added in 2020.
Not sure where to begin with all this information?
Medicare beneficiaries can telephone Medicare at 1-800-633-4227, speak with a Medicare representative, and learn more about their 2020 Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plan options.