Medicare Advantage Supplemental Benefits Are Hard to Compare During Open Enrollment, Group Finds

During Medicare's open enrollment period, which runs October 15 through December 7, people with Medicare can compare plans and switch coverage for 2027. But a new analysis from the Medicare Rights Center, published October 29, points to a persistent obstacle: comparing the supplemental benefits that Medicare Advantage plans offer, such as dental, vision, hearing, and fitness coverage, is harder than comparing standard costs and premiums.

The group says that plans often do not share complete information on supplemental benefits, and that Medicare Plan Finder, the federal government's official shopping tool, lacks the filters and standardized detail that would help shoppers identify which plans actually deliver the extras they need. Benefit descriptions vary by plan, use non-standard terms, and can omit eligibility requirements or limits on how benefits are delivered.

A beneficiary advisory panel convened by the group recommended that policymakers simplify and standardize benefit descriptions, increase oversight of whether plans actually deliver advertised benefits, and develop network adequacy standards, provider directories, and continuity of care rules specific to supplemental benefits.

Starting with the 2027 plan year, Medicare Advantage plans are required to make publicly available the criteria they use to determine whether an enrollee qualifies for condition-specific supplemental benefits, and must confirm eligibility through an objective process. The Medicare Rights Center notes this step is meaningful but does not by itself resolve the comparison challenge if the underlying information remains unsearchable or unstandardized within Medicare Plan Finder.

Supplemental benefits have grown as a major marketing feature for Medicare Advantage plans. The analysis urges CMS to treat standardization as a consumer-protection priority, not merely a display upgrade.