Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota will no longer offer gym memberships for Medicare beneficiaries at YMCA of the North and at Life Time, as of Jan. 1, both gym operators and the insurer confirmed to Becker’s. About 26,000…
Medicare Advantage
Over one-half of eligible Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans this year, according to KFF. Given that enrollment and recent scrutiny, all eyes are on how the private alternative to traditional Medicare gets paid. A Nov. 20 KFF…
State insurance regulators are issuing warnings around what they describe as unfair practices by Medicare Advantage insurers to restrict enrollment. Amid rising costs and increased regulatory pressures, insurers have been adjusting their broker commission structures this year as many look…
The Idaho Department of Insurance has ordered UnitedHealthcare and PacificSource Health Plans to immediately cease and desist practices that the state says intentionally limited access to Medicare Advantage plans and cut broker commissions during the ongoing open enrollment period. The…
A pair of U.S. senators sent a letter to CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, seeking answers for what they described as a “rushed launch” of the Medicare Advantage provider-directory tool. Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in…
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Special needs plans are far from new, but they continue to hold promise as some insurers step back from Medicare Advantage. One KFF analysis attributed about half of MA enrollment growth since 2024 to SNPs, with 21% of 2025 MA…
UnitedHealth Group is projecting its Medicare Advantage enrollment will decrease by 1 million people in 2026. That estimate is up from a 600,000-member decrease it projected in July. UnitedHealthcare CEO Tim Noel said on the company’s Oct. 28 earnings call…
CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, told FOX 5 Atlanta that the government shutdown is not affecting Medicare open enrollment. “The shutdown is a problem for lots of parts of government but not for [Medicare] open enrollment,” he said. “Medicare is…
Johnson City, Tenn.-based Ballad Health is suing UnitedHealth Group for alleged “Medicare Advantage manipulation” that has led to denied care and underpayment for services. The lawsuit was filed Oct. 21 in a Tennessee federal court and claims that UnitedHealth’s actions…
Medicare open enrollment kicked off earlier this month and will run until Dec. 7. From some big players exiting Medicare Advantage to boosts in regulatory legislation, there has been more uncertainty with navigating the space. Becker’s caught up with six…