Insurance Agents Advised to Target 36 Million Seniors with Original Medicare

 The continued onslaught of Medicare Advantage focused television ads should indicate to insurance brokers that a viable market exists, suggests Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Medicare Supplement Insurance.

Some 64 million Americans have Medicare and 36 million have Original Medicare according to Slome. “These are the 36 million people being targeted because they still have the ability to switch to Medicare Advantage during Medicare’s Open Enrollment period that runs from January 1 through March 31.”

“Insurance agents and brokers who have clients with Medicare coverage should not mistakenly assume Medicare activity ended on December 7th when AEP ended,” Slome advised. “Being the local Medicare insurance professional entails recognizing the trend toward MA plan enrollment. The national marketers using celebrity spokespeople certainly recognize this and are working hard to secure more business.”

The Association reports that switching to Medicare Advantage from Traditional Medicare is growing. “Experts predict total Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment will exceed 50% of all Medicare participants by 2023 or 2024,” Slome acknowledges.

Enrollees with just Traditional Medicare are switching to MA plans. Recent data posted on the Association’s Medicare Insurance Information Portal shared that in 2017, 5.3 percent of Medicare beneficiaries switched from traditional Medicare to Medicare Advantage. In 2020, 6.8 percent went from traditional to MA.

Rates at which people switched varied among certain populations. Black and Hispanic beneficiaries had higher switching rates compared to White beneficiaries. These beneficiaries were more likely to switch from Traditional Medicare to Medicare Advantage in 2016 and 2020.

To see more data regarding switching to Medicare Advantage plans, go to https://medicaresupp.org/information/medicare-advantage/switching-to-medicare-advantage/.