Nearly 400,000 Minnesotans Losing Medicare Advantage Plans: What to Do Now
Every fall, millions of Americans on Medicare get a stack of mail about their health coverage, and plenty of it goes straight to the junk drawer. This year, a lot of Minnesotans can't afford to do that.
Nearly 400,000 people in Minnesota are set to lose their current Medicare Advantage plan for 2027. That's about one-third of the state's roughly 1.2 million Medicare Advantage members.
Only a small fraction of them will be automatically moved to another plan, which means most will need to pick new coverage themselves.
The Minnesota Attorney General's office issued an alert on Monday urging people not to wait until the last minute. The deadline to choose a plan during open enrollment is December 7.
Why Insurers Are Pulling Back
Several of the state's biggest health insurers, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, UnitedHealthcare, and HealthPartners, are discontinuing or scaling back their Medicare Advantage plans. Humana is leaving the individual market in Minnesota altogether.
The insurers point to rising costs. Blue Cross says it has lost more than $500 million on Medicare over the last three years. Industry experts also cite federal reimbursement cuts, rising prescription drug prices, and more people using health care since the pandemic as reasons the math stopped working.
However, the reasons don't make it any easier for the people caught in the middle. This is the second year in a row that many Minnesotans have had to scramble for new coverage after insurers left parts of the state.
Rural Minnesota Will Feel It Most
Many of the people losing their plans live in Greater Minnesota, where choices were already limited. According to the Minnesota Board on Aging, 15 counties will have no Medicare Advantage plans at all in 2027:
- Aitkin
- Carlton
- Chippewa
- Cook
- Goodhue
- Koochiching
- Lake
- McLeod
- Meeker
- Mille Lacs
- Pine
- Rice
- Sibley
- Stevens
- Yellow Medicine.
People in those counties can still choose Original Medicare or a Medicare Cost plan.
Three counties will be left with only one choice. In Crow Wing, Lake of the Woods, and Wadena counties, Original Medicare will be the only option next year.
SEE NOW: Minnesota Travelers Are Now Warned To Avoid These Places
What You Should Do Now and How To Get Help
If you or a family member has a Medicare Advantage plan, the first step is finding out whether it's going away. Check any letters from your insurer, or call them directly.
From there, it's worth reviewing whether your doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies will still be covered under any new plan you're considering. People whose plans are ending may also qualify for a special enrollment period.
Free help is available. Minnesota Aging Pathways, a service of the Minnesota Board on Aging, can walk you through your options at 1-800-333-2433, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Hold times can be long during open enrollment, so calling sooner rather than later is a good idea. You can also compare plans using Medicare's Plan Finder tool or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE.
State officials stress that there's no need to panic, just a need to act. The December 7 deadline will come quickly, and with the holidays in between, now is the time to sit down with your paperwork, or with an aging parent or grandparent, and make sure nobody starts the new year without the coverage they need.
