America's Benefit Specialist November 2023

the government. New CMS rules in effect for the upcoming open-enrollment period prohibit misleading use of the Medi care name, logo, or card in private marketing and commu nication materials, or any use of the Medicare card without prior approval from CMS. Some ads suggest that seniors may miss out on financial savings, or benefits to which they are entitled, if they don’t sign up for a Medicare Advantage plan. While Medicare Ad vantage plans do typically offer extra benefits, that can leave viewers with the impression that they have incomplete cov erage if they have traditional Medicare, and that they have an entitlement to extra benefits under Medicare Advantage. Nearly all Medicare Advantage ad airings emphasized extra benefits such as dental, vision, and hearing (92%) or the potential for lower out-of-pocket spending (85%). Less than four percent of airings referenced quality star ratings, even though CMS created the ratings in part to help shoppers compare Medicare Advantage plans. One in four Medicare Advantage ad airings (26%) showed physically robust seniors engaging in activities such as hiking, yoga, tennis and even bouncing on a trampoline. This may suggest that they are targeting relatively healthy, lower-cost enrollees. Few ads showed people with visible disabilities (four percent) or the appearance of serious illness (one percent), though one-fifth of Medicare beneficiaries are in fair or poor self-reported health. Celebrity endorsers, including actor William Shatner, come dian J.J. Walker and former Arkansas governor Mike Hucka bee, appear more often in Medicare Advantage ads sponsored by brokers and other third-party entities than in ads spon sored by insurers. The celebrity endorsers are almost always men. Ex-NFL star Joe Namath was the most prolific, appearing in ads that aired nearly 56,000 times over the period, or about 10% of all airings of Medicare Advantage ads that season. More than two-thirds of ad airings sponsored by brokers and other third parties mentioned getting money back in your Social

Security check, even though just 17% of Medicare Advantage plans offered in 2023 include this benefit. As part of this research, KFF released a second report that was based on focus groups conducted in fall 2022, which confirms that many Medicare beneficiaries and their family members feel overwhelmed by the annual onslaught of TV ads and are sometimes confused about whether the govern ment or private companies are behind them. In the focus groups with beneficiaries and other Medicare plan shoppers, many participants thought TV advertisements were misleading and said they did not trust the content of the ads, particularly those that marketed a slew of “free” benefits. Many participants said they relied on agents and brokers when making coverage decisions. Few used govern ment resources, such as the Medicare Handbook or 1-800 Medicare, but those who did generally found them helpful. The two KFF reports come at a time when lawmakers in Congress, state insurance regulators and officials in the Biden administration are taking steps to address rising con sumer complaints about deceptive marketing practices in Medicare ads. Such complaints, which numbered fewer than 16,000 in 2020, increased to nearly 40,000 in the first eleven months of 2021, according to CMS. The rise has coincided with an increase in advertising by third-party marketing organizations such as agents, brokers, lead-generation busi nesses and media firms in recent years. The Medicare ad study analyzed TV ad data that was compiled by the Wesleyan Media Project, which collaborat ed with KFF on the research. Ads were obtained from Vivvix (formerly Kantar) CMAG, a data analytics and consulting firm, and were coded by the Wesleyan Media Project and analyzed by KFF. KFF also worked with PerryUndem to conduct focus groups with Medicare beneficiaries and other Medicare plan shoppers in the fall of 2022, during the annual Medicare open enrollment period.

SOME ADS SUGGEST THAT SENIORS MAY MISS OUT ON FINANCIAL SAVINGS, OR BENEFITS TO WHICH THEY ARE ENTITLED, IF THEY DON’T SIGN UP FOR A MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLAN.

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