Under CMS guidance issued in 2018, Medicare Advantage (MA) plans now have more flexibility to offer a wider variety of benefits, expanding the types of benefits that can be provided to all enrollees as well as allowing plans to offer different cost-sharing or additional benefits to specific subsets of enrollees. In spring 2019, CMS further expanded this flexibility by allowing MA plans to offer special supplemental benefits for the chronically ill (SSBCI). For this issue brief, Milliman reviewed MA plans utilizing the recent benefit flexibility, having had a full year to make strategic decisions.
This report was commissioned by Better Medicare Alliance, Inc.