Statutory and Plan-Bid Components of the Regional MA Benchmarks
The annual election period for 2020 coverage is set to start Oct. 15 and run until Dec. 7. The capitation payment spreadsheet below shows about how much Medicare Advantage program managers think they should be paying each month for each Medicare Advantage plan enrollee’s care.
Carriers set their actual prices by bidding against the capitation payment amounts. Carriers with plans that do well on Medicare Advantage program quality measures get a higher monthly capitation payment.
- The 2020 county-level averages range from $755 per month, in Presidio, Texas, up to $1,609, in Nome, Alaska.
- To simplify things, we calculated state-level averages. The 2020 state-level averages ranged from $883 per month, in Hawaii, up to $1,168, in Alaska.
- We also calculated how fast each state’s average capitation level changed between 2019 and 2020. The year-over-year change ranged from 4%, in Delaware, up to 8.2%, in one state.
ACCESS THE 2021 MEDICARE RATEBOOK: 2021 Medicare Ratebook (National, County Level Capitation Rates)
Determining Medicare payment for regional MA plans
Aside from a few special payment incentives, payment for regional MA plans is determined like payment for local plans, except that the benchmarks are calculated differently. CMS determines the benchmarks for the MA regional plans by using a more complicated formula that incorporates the plan bids. A region’s benchmark is a weighted average of the average county rate and the average plan bid.
As directed by law, CMS computes the average county rate as the individual county rates weighted by the number of Medicare beneficiaries who live in each county. The average plan bid is each plan’s bid weighted by each plan’s projected number of enrollees. CMS then combines the average county rate and the average bid into an overall average. In calculating the overall average, the average bid is weighted by the number of enrollees in all private plans across the country, and the average county rate is weighted by the number of all Medicare beneficiaries who remain in FFS Medicare.
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Title 42. Public HealthChapter IV. CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Subchapter B. MEDICARE PROGRAM Part 422. MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PROGRAM Subpart F. Submission of Bids, Premiums, and Related Information and Plan Approval Section 422.258. Calculation of benchmarks.