An overwhelming majority of seniors (93%) reported being satisfied with their Medicare Supplement coverage, with 80% reporting that they are very or extremely satisfied, according to a new survey conducted by Global Strategy Group on behalf of AHIP.
“Medicare Supplement brings seniors a very high level of satisfaction because it allows seniors to get the care they need from the doctors they prefer at an out-of-pocket cost they can afford,” said Jeanette Thornton, AHIP Executive Vice President, Policy and Strategy. “Medicare Supplement insurance is one of the many innovative ways health insurance providers are helping protect people from high out-of-pocket costs not covered by original Medicare.”
Medicare Supplement coverage complements original Medicare by protecting enrollees from many additional health care costs and allowing them to choose their doctors and specialists. The survey, conducted in January 2023 and released April 12, asked seniors about the value, benefits, customer service, and overall quality of care received through their Medicare Supplement plans.
Survey findings include:
- 93% of seniors said they are satisfied with their Medicare Supplement plan, with 80% saying they are very or extremely satisfied.
- 91% of seniors said they would be concerned about losing their financial security if they didn’t have Medicare Supplement coverage, and 90% would be concerned about paying co-pays and/or co-insurance.
- 83% of seniors rated the value of their Medicare Supplement coverage as excellent or good.
- 96% of seniors said they agree that Medicare Supplement coverage allows them to see doctors and specialists they know and trust without worrying too much about out-of-pocket costs.
- 77% of seniors said the most valuable benefit of their Medicare Supplement coverage was that it covered hospital expenses not covered by original Medicare.
Read the full survey here.
And they will be until their health goes south.
?????
Me too. My take is that he's obviously not a supplement fan.
Hopefully he'll come back and enlighten us. Enquiring minds want to know.
MA plans are dirt cheap, until you have to start going to to the doc a lot or have a big medical "event." Then you could easily find yourself hitting that out of pocket max every year. My stepmother (dad remarried late in life) went with an MA plan (she didn't ask me before she signed up), because is was cheap and she was in good health. My father's health sucks, I told him to stick with traditional Medicare and a Plan G supp. Last fall, she tripped and fell into a campfire. Really. Helicoptered to the nearest burn center, three weeks in the hospital, etc. It didn't take long to hit the $6,350 OOP max.
Sorry about your stepmother. Hope she's doing ok.
For a minute there we thought you were coming in from the Dark Side.
Go get um Obi Wan
She's fine, thanks – could have been a LOT worse, but a couple of guys yanked her out of the fire and put her out.
No "Dark Side" here. I just look beyond the savings to the price you pay to get the savings. That said, I've had wealthy clients for whom the supplement premiums are inconsequential, but they still opt for the low cost option, regardless of the impact it may have down the road. I guess it's just human nature.
It’s really the opposite. When people are perfectly healthy, they feel like they’re paying for the shipment for no reason. But when their health goes south, they really appreciate them. When someone has a lot of health problems, they appreciate how much they like their supplement over people on an advantage plan with limited networks and all the co-pays.
Sorry to hear about your stepmother!
The article is actually talking about seniors’ satisfaction with MedSupps (like the Plan G you recommended to dad), not MA. I suspect if they did the same survey on MA, the numbers would be significantly lower.
I just googled “Medicare Advantage satisfaction”, and hit on a JD Power report from 2022 (they’re working on an update right now):
https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2022-us-medicare-advantage-study
From the article: “Overall customer satisfaction with Medicare Advantage plans is 809 (on a 1,000-point scale)”.
80.9% is pretty good, but still a lot lower than the 93% for Med Supps reported in the AHIP study.
(Edited from my earlier post because I discovered the more recent study.)
I wonder how many of those surveyed have really tested their plan with a major claim?
I wonder how many surveyed know the difference in original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. At least half the people with Medicare Advantage call it a Med Sup.
They only surveyed MA plan members for the JD Power study. So even if they didn’t know the difference, the responses were for MA only. Same for the AHIP study – they only surveyed seniors on traditional Medicare with a Med Supp.
There's the proof!