After several more private health insurers — Vermont Blue Advantage (an affiliate of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Vermont), MVP, UnitedHealthcare, and Centene-subsidiary Wellcare — have recently announced they will drop Medicare Advantage plans from their offerings by the end of the year, many Vermonters are scrambling to find next steps toward solidifying health care by 2026. According to the federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, over 51,000 Vermonters were enrolled in Medicare Advantage programs as of the month of September. The lone provider who will continue its Medicare Advantage plan in Vermont is Humana — though strictly in the counties of Bennington, Caledonia, Essex, Orange, Windham, and Windsor.
This week, Sam Carleton, who serves as director of resource navigation for the nonprofit Age Well, an advocacy group for the aging population of northwestern Vermont, spoke to the Standard about Medicare Advantage, what the decrease in insurers offering the plan means, and what Vermonters can do next. Carleton also serves as a statewide director of the SHIP Program (State Health Insurance Assistance Program).
Sam Carleton
For more on this, please see our October 16 edition of the Vermont Standard.
