Springfield-based Health New England is entering the Medicare Supplement market for the first time.
SPRINGFIELD – The cost of Medicare supplement health insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts will drop by an average of 2.1 percent for 2013, the state insurance commissioner said Tuesday.
Prices for the plans, which sell under the Medex product name, vary with the size and scope of the policy. For one example, the Medex Bronze plan, the largest of the various Medex plans with 146,000 members, went from an average monthly cost of $186.47 to an average monthly cost of $183.73 , a drop of 1.3 percent, according to the state Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.
Senior citizens buy these Medicare supplement policies, often called “medigap” coverage, to full in the gaps left by the federal Medicare program, state Insurance Commissioner Joseph G. Murphy said in a telephone interview. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is the state’s largest health insurer provider and dominates the Medicare supplement market with about 160,000 customers statewide, Murphy said.
Springfield-based Health New England is entering the Medicare Supplement market for the first time, Murphy said. The state is currently reviewing Health New England’s proposed rate structure.
In the case of these Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts rates, Murphy said they are a continuation of a trend in the state of health insurance costs falling.
Murphy said there are indications across the industry that health-care utilization is down, that insured people are suing less health care and thus costs are falling.
“That doesn’t necessarily ring true in this market. It is generally an older market,” Murphy said.
Another reason may be the state’s insistence that insurers negotiate good deals with health care providers on behalf of their customers.
“So we are seeing some of the same trends overall in cost containment,” Murphy said.
In a written statement, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts said: “Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts has been a trusted provider of Medicare options for decades.”