2019 Medicare open enrollment began October 16, allowing 60 million Medicare beneficiaries the opportunity to change their coverage. This year, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services rolled out an update on their Plan Finder Tool. The updates include a mobile-friendly version of the tool, simplified plan menus, and the ability to make comparisons across Medicare products. The new Plan Finder Tool auto-loads current beneficiaries’ prescription lists to assist them in selecting the correct coverage.

Even with these new updates, there is still room for the Plan Finder Tool to improve. In a follow up to a 2018 study, health care policy research fellow Brian E. McGarry, PT, PhD, associate professor of health care policy Nicole Maestas, PhD, and professor of health care policy David C. Grabowski, PhD, discuss changes that CMS could implement to make the Plan Finder Tool even more valuable to Medicare beneficiaries in the Health Affairs blog.

A major concern highlighted by the authors is that the new Plan Finder automatically sorts plans by premiums, rather than by personalized total cost estimates that account for both premiums and estimated out of pocket costs. In the Plan Finder Tool redesign, plans with the lowest total cost for beneficiaries run the risk of falling to the bottom of the plan menu when plans are sorted by premiums. The tool does not filter out plans that do not include patients’ current prescription drugs.

The team suggests that the Plan Finder Tool focus on the number most valuable to beneficiaries: total cost. Reverting back to the default settings in the previous Plan Finder Tool would place plans with the lowest total cost at the top of the plan menu. It has been shown that users have an easier time selecting a plan with the lowest total cost when the cost is displayed without extra details. The Plan Finder Tool should highlight plans with low cost and high quality, as well as include information on risk protection. Allowing users to search for plans and pharmacies simultaneously would make it easier for beneficiaries to select plans that coordinate with their preferred pharmacies.

While the improvements have helped, more work is needed to make the Plan Finder Tool effective in assisting beneficiaries in selecting the lowest cost, highest quality Medicare plan.

This study has been featured in The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Boston Herald, and The Washington Post.