Deft Research: Switch Rate of 23% Signals ‘Awakening’ of Seniors to MA Plan Changes
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Feb 06, 2025
As Medicare Advantage insurers saw increasing levels of utilization that coincided with shrinking reimbursement from CMS in 2024, this year’s plan offerings presented a level of change that consumers couldn’t ignore. In its newly released 2025 Medicare Shopping and Switching Study, Deft Research observed 23% of MA enrollees switching plans or carriers during the 2025 Annual Election Period (AEP) that ran from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. That was up from 16% the year before, and it represented a return to an all-time high MA switch rate.
Given the service area reductions, plan closures, increased cost sharing and reduced benefits that consumers had to contend with, it’s not surprising to Deft Research President George Dippel that the figure was that high. That’s partly because 1.8 million individual, non-Special Needs Plan (SNP) beneficiaries saw their coverage terminated due to plan closures. “That number is very large; it’s the largest that I've seen in my 15 years here at Deft,” he tells AIS Health, a division of MMIT. It also represents an 8.7% “term” rate, compared with previous highs of 5%, “so that’s guaranteed switching, because these people were literally let go by the carrier.”
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