Some Medicare Advantage plans are closing. Here’s what you need to know: NPR

Medicare chief Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks at an event announcing the America.gov artificial intelligence website in Washington, DC, last month.

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Many Medicare Advantage plans will disappear next year, leaving seniors in many areas with fewer options. In 193 counties nationwide, no plan is proposed.

The annual Medicare open enrollment period began October 15 and will continue through December 7, and seniors enrolled in privatized Medicare plans that are closing in some markets should consider their options carefully.

Medicare Advantage means that private insurers manage Medicare for older Americans who choose it over traditional Medicare, where the federal government itself administers the program. More than half of the 70 million Americans with Medicare choose Medicare Advantage. It is popular because it covers services such as vision and dental care, often with lower premiums than traditional Medicare. It is also often integrated into the benefit of “Part D” drugs, thereby simplifying this decision.

But the downside to Medicare Advantage is that companies can choose where they offer plans. If a certain community is not profitable, a company may exit that market. And it’s been happening on an increasingly larger scale over the past three years, according to a study published in JAMA.

Who is affected

Large swaths of rural America are losing Medicare Advantage choices, as are some large metropolitan areas.

Last year, 2.9 million seniors had Medicare Advantage plans that closed shop, according to JAMA. This year, an analysis of insurance company announcements by An arm and a leg podcast, shows that at least 2 million people will be affected. Other preliminary estimates range from 3.2 million to 5 million elderly people. About 35 million people are enrolled in Medicare Advantage.

The 193 counties that will have no Medicare Advantage plans are mostly rural, according to an analysis of federal data by health policy research organization KFF. Last year, that number was about 120 counties without a proposed plan.

The KFF figures also show that there will be significantly fewer plans offered in some metropolitan areas. Dallas, Minneapolis, Seattle, Houston and Portland all have between a quarter and a third fewer Medicare Advantage plans for seniors.

What happens next

If your plan ends and you don’t choose another plan, the insurance company will assign you to another Medicare Advantage plan or the government will enroll you in traditional Medicare, but without a supplement plan or drug plan.

If you want to switch from Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare and your plan ends, you can enroll in a Medicare supplement plan – also known as Medigap – without the same restrictions you normally would have. If you have a pre-existing condition that has prevented you from enrolling in Medigap before, this could be good news.