This new study shows that Medicare beneficiary information-gathering behavior and experience with Medicare managed care were more highly associated with knowledge about Medicare managed care than formal education, age, income, or membership in a managed care plan before enrolling in Medicare....

Special needs plans (SNPs) are a type of Medicare Advantage managed care plan that serves individuals who have chronic or disabling conditions, are covered under both Medicare and Medicaid, or are institutionalized. Enrollment in SNPs has nearly doubled in the past year to almost 1.1 million,...

This report presents findings from Mathematica’s study of how Medicare Advantage (MA) has evolved over its first three years. It focuses on plan availability and enrollment, benefits and premiums, quality of care, and firms’ perspectives and decisionmaking. The findings provide evidence of...

In recent years, Medicare+Choice enrollment declined as private health plans withdrew from the program, and monthly premiums and cost sharing rose in the remaining plans. In anticipation of an expanded role for private plans in 2006, the Medicare Modernization Act attempted to stabilize the...

In 2006, the Medicare prescription drug benefit gave beneficiaries a choice of remaining in traditional Medicare and receiving the benefit through a freestanding prescription drug plan or enrolling in one of several types of Medicare Advantage (MA) plans that integrate all Medicare benefits and...

Medicare Advantage (MA), a voluntary program that provides beneficiaries with an alternative way to access traditional Medicare benefits, replaced the Medicare+Choice program in 2004 and became fully operational in 2006. This issue brief reviews recent trends in the program and includes...