Overview

This report looks at the changing nature of benefit designs by managed health care plans participating in the Medicare+Choice program, and the impact recent benefit changes have had on the ability of Medicare beneficiaries to compare plans on costs. It examines the 2001 benefit packages of five Medicare+Choice plans in Cleveland, Ohio, and benefit designs of the five Medicare+Choice plans in Tampa, Florida.

In recent years, many Medicare+Choice plans have required beneficiaries to pay premiums and have added or increased copayments for prescription drugs, while imposing limits on the amount of drugs they would cover. Different plans have varying cost-sharing requirements for drugs, which have made cost comparisons between plans difficult. More recently, in some markets, Medicare+Choice plans have started to impose different costsharing requirements on a host of Medicare-covered and certain supplemental benefits that traditionally were very comparable among plans. These include costs associated with hospital and nursing home care.

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