A study that involved an extended health survey of seniors who bought private Medicare plans through a health insurance exchange showed that 63 percent reevaluated their coverage during the annual enrollment period for 2012 and that among them, 31 percent purchased different coverage.
The survey involved the participation of 334 seniors who had previously purchased private supplemental Medicare plans through an insurance exchange. According to the results, the three primary reasons that these seniors decided to reevaluate their health insurance coverage were:
• Because they had experienced an increase in out-of-pocket expenses (7 percent)
• Because they had experienced an increase in premiums (23 percent)
• Because they wanted to make sure that they were receiving the right amount of coverage for their unique needs (43 percent)
Among the respondents, 34 percent said that they did not reevaluate their coverage before they renewed their existing plan, and 3 percent were making their first purchase of a private Medicare plan. The portion of the participants who did not continue with their existing coverage was less than 1 percent.
The 2012 annual enrollment period ended on December 7, 2011, and the survey was conducted from December 20 through December 26. It was performed by the operator of the largest private Medicare exchange in the country, Extended Health, Inc.
Extended Health, Inc. gives seniors access to an exchange that allows them to review, compare side-by-side, and select over 4,000 different private Medicare plans being offered by over 75 different insurance companies to assist them in choosing the options that best suit their requirements.
Advertisement: To find out more about other forms of supplemental health insurance like cancer insurance or accident insurance. These types of plans are meant to help fill in the gap or the out of pocket expenses.
