The financial news that actually matters
Explains Medicare coverage, eligibility, benefits, enrollment rules, and healthcare planning for retirees. It simplifies government healthcare programs for better understanding.
Every fall, the federal government tells Medicare Advantage and Part D insurance companies, and everyone shopping for coverage, exactly how the numbers for the coming plan year shook out. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says that release, known inside the agency as the Medicare Advantage and Part D landscape, will post in mid-to-late…
About 1,000 Medicare Advantage members enrolled in Mass General Brigham Health Plan are getting a defined window to keep receiving care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute before that access ends. The health plan confirmed it will drop Dana-Farber from its Medicare Advantage network starting October 1, pointing to financial pressure it says is affecting Medicare Advantage…
The federal government has set new Medicare Advantage payment rates for 2027, and insurers are getting more money than they were told to expect at the start of the year. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized a net average increase of 2.48 percent, worth more than $13 billion in additional Medicare Advantage payments…
Millions of Medicare Advantage and Part D enrollees will find an envelope from their plan in the mailbox this month, well before any of its contents take effect. The document inside, formally called the Plan Annual Notice of Change, spells out exactly which premiums, deductibles, copays and covered drugs are about to shift when the…
Medicare Advantage plans sometimes stop serving a county or exit the Medicare program entirely, and every member enrolled in one has to actively pick new coverage during the fall Open Enrollment period. Members who take no action are not left uninsured. Instead, Medicare’s default puts them into Original Medicare, Part A and Part B, without…
Older Americans whose Medicare Advantage plan exits the market do not have to wait for the annual sign-up season to fix their coverage. Federal rules give them a short, specific runway to buy a private Medigap policy without an insurer picking apart their medical history first. Miss that runway and the same policy can come…
Two of the country’s most recognized academic medical systems are heading toward the same October 1 cutoff with major Medicare Advantage insurers, though for different reasons. NewYork-Presbyterian remains locked in an unresolved contract dispute with UnitedHealthcare, one both companies have already extended once while a new multi-year deal is negotiated. The Ohio State University Wexner…
Star ratings, not just cost spreadsheets, drove Humana’s decision to drop Medicare Advantage plans covering roughly 600,000 members for the 2027 plan year, according to the insurer’s own account of the cuts. Non-renewal notices are expected to reach affected members in early October, ahead of the fall enrollment window when they will need to pick…
Humana told investors this summer that it plans to exit Medicare Advantage plans covering roughly 600,000 members in 2027, the second consecutive year the insurer has shrunk its footprint in the privatized Medicare program. Chief Financial Officer Celeste Mellet said on the company’s July 29 second-quarter earnings call that Humana expects to recapture only about…
Mass General Brigham Health Plan is removing Dana-Farber Cancer Institute from its Medicare Advantage provider network starting October 1, 2026, cutting off in-network access to one of the country’s leading cancer centers for members enrolled in the insurer’s MA product. The change applies only to the Medicare Advantage line; commercial and MassHealth members keep their…