Medicare in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has the 6th largest Medicare population in the US. It also has a large amount of Dual Eligibles, (people on both Medicare and Medicaid.)

By the numbers for 2017*:

• Total number of Medicare beneficiaries in the US: 55,504,005
• Total number of Medicare beneficiaries in Pennsylvania: 2,533,515

Medicare Advantage (Part C) statistics:

• Total number of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage in the US: 18,478,199
• Total number of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage in Pennsylvania 1,022,617
• Total Number of Medicare Advantage Plans in US: 2317 total
• Total Number of Medicare Advantage Plans in Pennsylvania: 157 total

Part D (stand-alone prescription drug plan) statistics:

• Total number of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in a stand-alone PDP in the US: 25,078,872
• Total number of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in a stand-alone PDP in Pennsylvania: 1,090,733
• Total Number of stand-alone PDP Plans in Pennsylvania: 26 plans
• Average Premium for stand-alone PDP in US: $53.14/per month
• Average Premium for stand-alone PDP in Pennsylvania: $53.55/per month

Dual Eligibles – people with both Medicare and Medicaid benefits

• Total number of Medicare beneficiaries of Dual Eligible in the US: 9,972,300
• Total number of Medicare beneficiaries of Dual Eligible in Pennslyvania: 439,378

Medicare Advantage plans and stand-alone PDP's are contracted with CMS and are not available in every county in every state. Each year MA and PDP plans renew their contacts with CMS, therefore availability of MA and PDP plans can change.

Resources for Medicare Beneficiaries in Pennsylvania

Since Pennsylvania has the 6th largest population of Medicare beneficiaries, there are great free resources available.

Here are just a few:

Pennsylvania Department of Aging, works with local Areas on Aging to help seniors access several local programs by county. http://www.aging.pa.gov/Pages/default.aspx

APRISE is free health insurance counseling program

http://www.aging.pa.gov/aging-services/insurance/Pages/default.aspx

Benefits Checkup – funded by the National Council on Aging - https://www.benefitscheckup.org/, is a great resource to apply for federal and state assistance programs.

Source Kaiser Family Foundation

https://www.kff.org/state-category/medicare/