Medicare Advantage plans being dropped: Your questions answered

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - People who rely on Medicare for health coverage could soon see their plans dropped as major insurers, including UnitedHealthcare and UCare, scale back coverage.

Insurers drop Medicare Advantage coverage

What we know:

Last week, UnitedHealth Group said it plans to reduce its Medicare Advantage footprint from 72 to 27 counties, affecting about 20% of subscribers.

Minneapolis-based UCare announced in September it would drop Medicare Advantage coverage entirely. HealthPartners, and Aetna also announced changes for Medicare customers.

Correction: This story initially stated Blue Cross Blue Shield was dropping coverage for subscribers. In a statement, a company spokesperson says that is not correct. They provided the following statement: "Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) will continue to offer Medicare Advantage plans in 66 counties across the state. Medicare Cost plans are also available in the remaining 21 counties. Altogether, Blue Cross will continue to offer Medicare plans for seniors in all 87 counties in Minnesota."

Big picture view:

UnitedHealth Group pointed to cuts to Medicare and Medicaid programs at the federal level, which began in 2024.

"The combination of [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] funding cuts, rising healthcare costs and increased utilization have created headwinds that no organization can ignore," said UnitedHealth's Bobby Hunter, who runs the company's government programs, in a Tuesday press briefing.

Earlier this year, UnitedHealth's stock took a hit after a bad first quarter report, which the company blamed on costs for Medicare Advantage customers.

Medicare coverage Q&A

Last week, on FOX 9 All Day, Amy Hockert was joined by Tim Jopp of Legacy Health Insurance, who answered viewer questions on the Medicare change.

If my plan is dropped, what will I lose?

Jopp: As of Jan. 1st, if you've got a UCare Medicare Advantage policy, it's going away. You will not have any additional insurance. So what confuses people is that they still have the original Medicare starting Jan. 1st, but they will lose the additional benefits. UCare's got the big bulk of this… but UnitedHealthcare is pulling out of some counties… Aetna is pulling out of a couple of counties. And then Health Partners is pulling out of some counties, but then also eliminating one of their plans.

So it'll default to your A and B Medicare coverage, which you still have some insurance. You just won't have prescription drug coverage, and your deductibles change, your co-pays change, things like that, are different on original Medicare than what they're like when you're on a Medicare Advantage plan.

What other options do I have?

Jopp: They're going to be able to go to another plan if they want to. They can pick another Medicare Advantage plan. This is an unusual thing to happen where people, when they lose their plan, where it physically goes away, they're going to have what's called "guaranteed issue rates" into Medicare supplements. So those become attractive for people, but they're also going to able to buy or look at other Medicare Advantage plans or look at a supplement – whichever one is a better fit for them.

How expensive are supplementary drug plans?

Jopp: It's a loaded question. There can be some that, I know this sounds weird, can be as low as $0. But there can be some that are $101 or $117. There can be some as much as that, just for prescription drugs. So it just depends on what they're looking for. And some of those laws have changed. A couple of years ago, when people were on expensive prescriptions, they could get to $8,000 out of their pocket. Now with the new IRA change, the Inflation Reduction Act, in 2025, they changed from $8,000 down to $2,000. So now, the most they could pay out of pocket is $2,000. That is some of the pressures that these insurance companies are feeling, because that's a significant decrease for people that were paying a lot. That's nice for the members, going down to $2,000, that's going to move up to $2,100 next year. Also, Part B costs –  there's A and B, the original Medicare. Part A, as long as you've worked 10 years of your life or 40 quarters, that doesn't cost anything. But Part B, we believe this is not finalized yet, but we believe that's going to be $206.50 in 2026.

Where can I review different plans?

Jopp: You could go to medicare.gov and look at options there. I don't want to say anything –  Maybe the toll free numbers, the 1-800s, maybe don't go to those… You can go to an agent, if you want to go to an agent. Most agents, we can't charge a fee, the government doesn't allow us to do that. So, maybe an agent can help you out with that and picking a plan or what you should do. Or just do the research on your own, which sometimes is not the best option, because maybe you are picking something that doesn't fit you the best.

Will your annual notice of change (ANOC) tell you if your plans being dropped?

Jopp: The ANOC talks about the changes to your plan. So, if your plan has any changes, that's what the annual notice of change does. It tells you about your plan changes. If your plan's going away, they just don't get it. And they should get notified. But again, you can call the insurance company and say, ‘Hey, is my plan going away?’ Now, calling UCare is not gonna help out, right? Because we know that plan's going away. It's the Aetnas, the HealthPartners, the Medicas, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. This is going to affect a lot of people. People are going to go without the additional insurance. But, just because you're losing your plan doesn't mean you lose your original Medicare, so you still have coverage.

What is the deadline to choose a new plan?

Jopp: Starting, Oct. 1st, you can start looking at options and looking at plans and see what's out there. You can't make any changes until Oct. 15th through Dec. 7th. So those deadlines, Oct. 15 through Dec. 7th, is for people that are not losing their insurance but maybe want to change their plan. That's that deadline. But people who are losing their plan actually have a couple of other deadlines. They can go till Dec. 31st, and if they do it before Dec. 31, it would start Jan. 1st. So you've got Oct. 15th through Dec. 31, if you're losing your plan.

What if I missed the December 31 deadline?

Jopp: [Enrollment] continues on into January and February. You actually can go all the way till the end of February. So, if you sign up in January, your insurance would start Feb. 1st. If you signed up in February, it would actually start on March 1st, so those are kind of your deadlines. There's a lot of different dates and people are really worried.

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