Part D low-income shifts

UnitedHealth is among a minority of the leading Medicare Part D sponsors that added auto-assigned low-income members for 2009 with a gain of 120,000. Universal American was another, with 145,000 net new Medicaid/Medicare dual-eligibles. Among those who lost low-income members, WellCare reported 252,000 fewer dual-eligible members in 2009, and Humana lost 300,000 dual-eligibles. Overall, CMS had to re-assign nearly 1.2 million low-income beneficiaries to a new Part D sponsoring organization in 2009, which is roughly on par with 2008. But the availability of plans qualified for low-income subsidy beneficiaries is shrinking; in states such as Florida, Arizona and Nevada and in the New England region, there are now only five or fewer plans available, according to an analysis by Avalere Health