With open enrollment for both Medicare Advantage and the ACA underway at the time of this writing, CivicScience examined some key differences between enrollees and the general adult population. 

Medicare Advantage (MA) Enrollees

Health & Wellness, Healthcare Experience, and Telemedicine

Overall, U.S. adults who are re-enrolling or planning to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan (‘MA enrollees’ moving forward) report being generally healthy with  only a few medical issues, but are still less likely than the average adult to be very healthy consumers.

MA enrollees are also more likely than the average adult to have gone to their doctor or a health professional at least once in the last 12 months. 

Cost of care doesn’t appear to have limited MA enrollees’ ability to visit a doctor over the last year. In fact, they under-index compared to the average U.S. adult (13% vs 22%).

And, some favorable news for providers is MA enrollees are much more likely to be satisfied with the health care they received in the last year.

MA enrollees under-index in having adopted telemedicine offerings and are much more likely to be uninterested compared to the general population at large. A quarter of MA enrollees want to try it, putting them slightly higher than the general popular in terms of intent.

COVID-19

Likely a clear proxy for age, MA enrollees are much more likely to be very concerned about being in public right now than U.S. adults at large.

They’re also more likely than the baseline to opt to receive a vaccine for the coronavirus when one is approved by the FDA and available–but only slightly more. 

 

Media Consumption

U.S. MA enrollees are most reached by advertising on TV, the internet, and in print media. Notable though is that direct mail is still more influential with this group than email, social media, or the radio.

MA enrollees are significantly less tech savvy and active on social media than the average adult. The MA segment under-indexes across all social media platforms but nearly half still use Facebook.

More Standout Insights

  • MA enrollees are less price sensitive than the average U.S. adult;
  • National MA enrollees are significantly more likely than the average U.S. adult to be environmentally conscious; and
  • Unsurprisingly, due to the older age of MA enrollees, most MA enrollees in America are retired but two in five enrollees still work full time.

See the in-depth MA enrollee DeepProfile™+ report here (which also highlights how Pittsburgh MA enrollees compare). 

Affordable Care Act Plan (ACA) Enrollees

Health & Wellness, Healthcare Experience, and Telemedicine

Overall, U.S. adults who are re-enrolling or planning to enroll in an Affordable Care Act plan (ACA enrollees) appear to be generally healthy consumers.

ACA enrollees are the most likely to have gone to their doctor or a health professional 1 to 2 times in the last 12 months

ACA enrollees are less likely than all U.S. adults to have tried telemedicine services, however, they are slightly more likely than the general population to show intent to try it.

COVID-19

U.S. ACA enrollees appear to be more concerned about COVID across many aspects (being in public spaces, access to and cost of treatment, etc.) of the pandemic.

However, ACA enrollees are no more likely than the general population to get a COVID vaccine in the future.

More Standout Insights

  • ACA enrollees are generally less tech savvy than the average adult;
  • They are also less active on social media than the average U.S. adult;
  • Television and the internet likely have the most influence on ACA enrollees; and
  • ACA enrollees over-index for watching the news.

See the in-depth ACA Enrollee DeepProfile™+ report here (which also highlights how Pittsburgh ACA enrollees compare).