Beneficiaries will have more plan choices, with about 1,200 more Medicare Advantage plans operating in 2020 than in 2018, according to the CMS. Broken down by county, the average number of Medicare Advantage plan choices will rise from about 33 plans in 2019 to 39 plans in 2020. Since 2017, the average number per county has risen 49 percent.

Regarding Part D prescription drug plans, the average monthly premium on basic plans is projected to fall 13.5 percent to $30 in 2020 — the lowest average since 2013, the CMS reports.

Collectively, beneficiaries have saved roughly $2.65 billion in Medicare Advantage and Part D premium costs since 2017, the agency estimates. As for taxpayers, the continued decline in such costs over the past three years should save them almost $6 billion in the form of lower Medicare premium subsidies, the CMS asserts.

The premium declines for both programs are a result of several actions that CMS has taken over the last two years "to protect and strengthen the Medicare Advantage and Part D programs, driving competition and lowering costs," the agency writes.

Key actions include:

• Removing limits requiring meaningful differences among a Medicare Advantage Organization's plans, resulting in more plan choices.
• Streamlining government review and approval of marketing materials for Medicare Advantage and Part D plans.
• Expanding access to reduced cost sharing and additional benefits for enrollees with certain conditions, such diabetes and congestive heart failure, due to the agency's reinterpretation of uniformity in 2018.
• Expanding access within Medicare Advantage plans to health-related supplemental benefits, such as adult care services or caregiver support services.
• Expanding access within Medicare Advantage plans for chronically ill patients to additional supplemental benefits, such as receiving meal delivery in more circumstances, transportation for non-medical needs like grocery shopping, and home environment services in order to improve their health or overall function as it relates to their chronic illness.
• Implementing additional telehealth benefits within Medicare Advantage plans to provide access to more providers in more parts of the country.
• Providing clinicians with more information on out-pocket-costs and lower cost alternatives for prescription drugs so they can discuss with beneficiaries at the time a prescription is written.
• Allowing plans to cover prescription drugs differently depending on the reasons for which they are prescribed, similar to the approach practiced within the private sector.

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