Humana Expects To Lose Enrollees Dually Eligible For Medicare, Medicaid Due To Premium Hike

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 15 Sep 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Humana officials on Tuesday said that the company expects membership in Medicare prescription drug plans operated by the company to decrease by almost 10% in 2009 because of a loss of enrollment of dual eligibles, beneficiaries who qualify for Medicare and Medicaid, the Wall Street Journal reports. Medicare covers the full cost of the prescription drug benefit for dual eligibles and automatically enrolls beneficiaries in private plans that submit premium bids less than the average of those received.

In 2009, Humana will lose all 308,000 dual eligibles enrolled in Medicare prescription drug plans operated by the company because the company submitted a premium bid that exceeded the average, according to Humana officials. According to the Journal, "some analysts suggested this might be positive for Humana's bottom line, since higher prices could bolster earnings and these members yield little profit" (Wall Street Journal, 9/10).

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© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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