Where does Medicare Advantage Marketing come from?

Due to marketing practices, CMS has put in place rules to curb deceptive or inaccurate advertising.

Medicare Advantage (MA) marketing is under scrutiny for nefarious tactics, but where exactly does it come from?

according to report According to the Commonwealth Fund, non-governmental organizations account for one-third of all Medicare-related search records and 87% of all search engine advertising, citing beneficiaries and consumers struggling to choose the right health plan. causing confusion in

“Medicare Advantage plans are being promoted through direct mail, telemarketing, radio, television, websites, and advertising on social media channels,” the researchers said. There are no ‘marketing’ organizations, but commercial insurers do sell supplemental Medigap and Part D plans for those in traditional Medicare, so nearly all beneficiaries are covered by some form of marketing effort. increase.”

When users search for information about Medicare, 20% of records come from agents, brokers, or partners, and 16% come from health plans. CMS has the largest share at 27% of search records.

For search engine advertising, agents, brokers and partners account for 55%, and health insurance accounts for a further 32%. CMS only has 7% advertising, the same as other for-profit organizations.

in the meantime 40% of Medicare beneficiaries They get no help choosing a plan and most often seek guidance from a broker or agent – ​​30% for traditional Medicare and 31% for MA.

Beneficiaries may be adversely affected as brokers and agents are paid commissions by insurance companies. A Commonwealth Fund researcher highlights that CMS has reported more than 41,000 complaints about his marketing of Medicare private plans in 2021. That’s twice as many as he did in 2020, up from about 6,000 in 2017.

To mitigate complaints and combat misleading marketing practices, CMS proposed a rule We do not allow ads that do not refer to a specific plan name or that use words, images, languages ​​or logos that are confusing or misleading.

However, it is unclear whether the restrictions introduced affect the results. Researchers believe more needs to be done to better understand what information Medicare beneficiaries have access to.

“Additionally, more information about agent and broker compensation, including overriding and payments for other services such as health risk assessments, and greater transparency about relationships between healthcare providers, TPMOs and insurers will help CMS. It helps ensure a level playing field: assessing whether compensation and other financial arrangements are consistent with the interests of beneficiaries,” the researchers concluded.