Medicare Stand-Alone PDP Membership Up 1.8% According to Mark Farrah Associates

MCMURRAY, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In the latest Healthcare Business Strategy report, Mark Farrah
Associates (MFA), www.markfarrah.com,
aggregated and analyzed year-over-year enrollment data for all
stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDPs) nationwide. Stand-alone PDPs
enrolled 25.1 million people as of March 1, 2017, an aggregate increase
of 1.8%, or approximately 443,000 net enrollees, from March 1, 2016. The
percentage of Medicare eligibles served by PDPs dropped from 43.6% in
March 2016 to 43.2% in March 2017. Enrollment from employer group plans
was approximately 4.4 million, a decline of 80,000 members
year-over-year, while enrollment in products sold to individuals
increased by over 540,000 to 20.3 million.

Six companies control 87% of the PDP market, covering one million
members or more. CVS Caremark, UnitedHealth and Humana top the list with
each serving over 20% of all PDP enrollees. Humana experienced the most
sizeable growth amongst the top six PDP carriers with a year-over-year
increase of 367,000 members, or a 7.8% gain. However, CVS Caremark
enrolled the most members with 5.5 million PDP beneficiaries, a 4.6%
gain, from March 2016 to March 2017. Stand-alone PDP enrollment
increased in most states as of March 1, 2017 with net membership gains
of approximately 460,000 members nationally. Texas and California
experienced the most significant enrollment gains in March of 2017 with
Texas enrolling 72,000 more PDP members from the prior year.

For the purpose of this analysis, it’s important to note that MFA did
not include the 17.3 million members currently receiving prescription
drug coverage through their Medicare Advantage plan. To read the full
text of “Medicare
PDP Enrollment Covers over 25 Million Members“, visit the
Analysis Briefs library on Mark Farrah Associates’ website.

About Mark Farrah Associates (MFA)

MFA is a leading data aggregator and publisher providing health plan
market data and analysis tools for the healthcare industry. Committed to
simplifying analysis of health insurance business, our products include
Medicare Business Online™, Medicare Benefits Analyzer™, Health Coverage
Portal™, County Health Coverage™, and Health Plans USA™.

Contacts

Mark Farrah Associates
Ann Marie Wolfe, 412-944-2417