By April 2022, it is expected that more than 250,000 retired New York City government employees and their families will transition from traditional medical insurance to privatized medical insurance.The city’s initiative to provide insurance for retirees Medical insurance advantage The plan represents the trend of self-insurance customers that has accelerated nationwide in the past decade.

In December, 5 million MA members came from a union or employer-sponsored group plan, an increase of 6% year-on-year, and a 132% increase from the 2.1 million registered persons ten years ago. According to the latest federal dataBrad Ellis said that although enrollment through group programs accounted for a small portion of MA’s total enrollment, as companies hope to attract and retain talent during major resignations and the government wants to cut healthcare costs and provide additional benefits, these programs Increasingly popular, senior insurance executives rated by Fitch.

For example, through Anthem’s MA program for retirees, city and union leaders estimate that they will save more than $600 million in health care costs, even though the transaction does face legal challenges. The new MA plan for New York retirees was originally scheduled to take effect on January 1, but union staff and other insurance companies raised questions about Anthem’s $34 billion five-year contract and delayed the start date. Anthem is the fourth largest MA enrollment in the United States; UnitedHealth Group is the largest MA insurance company.

In 2021, one-fifth of MA members are registered through the US group program. Caesars Family Foundation.

Ellis said: “In this environment, you may see more employers use it as retirement benefits to attract employees.” “It’s hard to say how long the employment environment we are in now will last. This is an employee. market.”

Emma Hoo, Head of Value Orientation, said that the company has long provided employees with a collective MA plan and is attracted by the additional benefits that traditional medical insurance does not provide, the care coordination services provided, and employees’ familiarity with the limited network managed by the insurance company. Buy Health at the Buyer Business Group, which is an alliance of about 40 large companies, including Costco, Microsoft, and Walmart.

She said that because payments depend on the risk of the company’s retired employee population, MA plans are not necessarily cheaper than traditional medical insurance, although they do provide more predictability for employers to cover patient risks because customers pay a fixed monthly payment to the insurance company. Expenses to manage personal care, she said. Hoo said that as health care costs and drug prices continue to rise, this predictability is particularly attractive.

“Recently, operators have been expanding their MA products in other markets, giving them a better chance of becoming a national product for multi-state employers,” Hoo said.

She said that by expanding the coverage of the MA program, insurance companies may hope to attract employers with remote labor. Paul Tyler, chief marketing officer of investment manager at Nassau Financial Group, said that with record early retirement levels, the company may also want to increase benefits to retain older employees.

According to a report by the US government in October, due to the soaring stock prices and housing prices, the asset-owned baby boomers stopped working, and more than 3 million Americans retired early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. According to the report, from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2020, the real net worth of Americans aged 55 to 64 increased by 14.2%. According to the report, the U.S. labor force is not enough to exceed the pre-pandemic level of more than 5 million people, which makes early retirement a major cause of missing workers.

“Many companies have been focusing on retaining older employees. The focus is on what additional benefits we can provide to retain older employees and also retain some younger employees,” Taylor said. “The great resignation really puts the focus on supplementary benefits in a way we have not seen in the past 20 years.”

He said that, ironically, individual MA plans may accelerate individual retirement plans. Taylor said that because these plans generally provide cheaper deductibles than traditional medical insurance, individuals can budget less for health insurance retirement expenses. He added that the suspension of travel may also change personal demand for supplier networks.

“The fact that it may be cheaper may resolve a lot of the anxiety surrounding healthcare and will encourage people to retire early,” Taylor said. “I don’t have exact data on this, but what’s interesting is that this is what I see.”