Part D growth through MA plans

Executive Summary

Membership in Medicare Advantage drug plans increased approximately 6 percent to 8 million following the 2008 open enrollment period, according to CMS enrollment data. Enrollment in stand-alone Medicare prescription drug plans rose by about 1.2 percent to 17.4 million. The largest gain in the MA-PD market was recorded by Humana, adding 92,000 to a total of 1.2 million, based on an analysis of enrollment numbers by Avalere Health. Market leader UnitedHealth added 21,600 MA-PD members for a total of approximately 1.3 million. However, UnitedHealth lost nearly 600,000 stand-alone PDP members in 2008 (to 4.1 million) and Humana lost about 290,000, to 3.2 million. Due to premium increases, United predicted it would lose up to 650,000 low-income PDP members in 2008 (1"The Pink Sheet," Oct. 1, 2007, p. 12). Humana also had forecast losses based on higher premiums (2"The Pink Sheet," Oct. 8, 2007, p. 18)...