The majority of older adults say they would stick with their current Medicare plan rather than switch to a different plan when they feel they have too many options, a survey from the Commonwealth Fund found.
In the survey, published Sept. 12, 96 percent of respondents said they would stick with their current Medicare option when they feel they have too many options, rather than switch to a different plan.
The Commonwealth Fund surveyed 2,001 adults 65 years of age and older about their experiences with Medicare marketing. Three in 4 respondents reported receiving at least one phone call, email or mailer about Medicare plans during the open enrollment period.
This "stickiness" can prevent Medicare members from switching to plans that would offer them lower costs, according to the Commonwealth Fund's report. A study published in JAMA Health Forum found 48.3 percent of enrollees in non-dual-eligible Medicare Advantage plans disenrolled from their plan within five years of enrolling.
The Commonwealth Fund survey found older adults with lower incomes were more likely to receive misleading marketing than their peers with higher incomes. Among respondents with incomes of $25,000 or less annually, 28 percent reported advertisements about a plan that led them to believe something that turned out not to be true, compared to 15 percent of respondents with incomes above $25,000.
Respondents with lower incomes were more likely to report staying on the phone when reached by marketing representatives about plans — 31 percent of respondents with incomes under $25,000 said they stayed on the phone with these representatives, compared to 9 percent of respondents with incomes over $50,000.
See the full survey here.