Market characteristics and awareness of managed care options among elderly beneficiaries enrolled in traditional Medicare.

Abstract

Background: Medicare beneficiaries' awareness of Medicare managed care plans is critical for realizing the potential benefits of coverage choices.

Objectives: To assess the relationships of the number of Medicare risk plans, managed care penetration, and stability of plans in an area with traditional Medicare beneficiaries' awareness of the program.

Research design: Cross-sectional analysis of Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data about beneficiaries' awareness and knowledge of Medicare managed care plan availability. Logistic regression models used to assess the relationships between awareness and market characteristics.

Subjects: Traditional Medicare beneficiaries (n = 3,597) who had never been enrolled in Medicare managed care, but had at least one plan available in their area in 2002, and excluding beneficiaries under 65, receiving Medicaid, or with end stage renal disease.

Measures: Traditional Medicare beneficiaries' knowledge of Medicare managed care plans in general and in their area.

Results: Having more Medicare risk plans available was significantly associated with greater awareness, and having an intermediate number of plans (2-4) was significantly associated with more accurate knowledge of Medicare risk plan availability than was having fewer or more plans.

Conclusions: Medicare may have more success engaging consumers in choice and capturing the benefits of plan competition by more actively selecting and managing the plan choice set.