Most seniors recognize the advantage of a certain Medicare program.
A Health Affairs study out this week finds that more than half of Medicare beneficiaries have switched from the main program to Medicare Advantage in the last several years, between 2006 and 2011.
Specifically, the study found 52 percent of new MA beneficiaries in 2011 came from traditional Medicare; and that 48 percent of new Medicare beneficiaries in 2011 enrolled into MA without even trying traditional Medicare, up from 22 percent of new MA beneficiaries in 2006. Additionally, individuals in their late 60s moved from traditional Medicare at the highest rate.
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People who were newly eligible for Medicare comprised another growing share of Medicare Advantage members — almost 50 percent of all enrollees by 2011, according to the research.
"If these trends continue, the percentage of beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage plans will continue to grow as baby boomers age into Medicare," Gretchen Jacobson, associate director of the program on Medicare policy for the Kaiser Family Foundation, wrote in the study. "This is why, in the context of Medicare Advantage enrollment growth, all eyes are focused on new beneficiaries and the youngest cohort of seniors enrolled in Medicare."
Medicare Advantage enrollment continues to grow, increasing by 41 percent just last year. And MA enrollment is projected to jump to a new high in 2015, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, despite heavily criticized cuts to the program.
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