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Data Report

Medicare HMO Prescription Drug Coverage Survey Results

An online consumer survey conducted during 2000 and 2001 through the Medicare HMO.com web site, powered by www.HMOSurvey.com

MCOL conducted an on-line survey regarding Medicare HMO prescription drug coverage for visitors to its Medicare HMO web site between May 2000 and December 2001. Approximately 750 individuals participated in the survey, which asked detailed questions regarding actual and desired prescription drug benefits, willingness to pay additional monthly premiums for desired drug benefits, and drug coverage and overall plan satisfaction. MCOL’s analysis examined such factors as changes between 2000 and 2001, and specified differences between major national health plans.

MCOL wished to not only capture responses from Medicare HMO members, but also from other applicable interest groups in order to compare perceptions. Thus the survey categorized participants into four types: (1) Current or former Medicare HMO members, (2) Medicare eligibles that know an HMO member, (3) Medicare eligibles that have never belonged to a Medicare HMO and don’t know someone well who has, and (4) non-Medicare friends and family of Medicare HMO members.

Certain questions below were only applicable to specific types of participants. However, the following is a summary of the questions asked to applicable participants after they had provided preliminary information to categorize them into one of the four types discussed above:

§ State?

§ Currently a Medicare HMO member?

§ Plan Name?

§ What is the annual $ maximum drug coverage for this plan?

§ What is the drug copayment per prescription you most frequently paid under this plan?

§ What do you think a Medicare HMO's annual $ drug coverage maximum should be?

§ What do you think a Medicare HMO's most typical copayment per prescription should be?

§ What is the most you would be willing to pay in additional monthly premiums to receive the level of drug coverage you indicated above

§ Are (or were) you relatively satisfied with your Medicare HMO drug coverage benefit?

§ Are (or were) you relatively satisfied with your Medicare HMO?

§ What is your own overall opinion of Medicare HMOs?

Some major findings from analysis of the survey responses include:

	There is a relatively high level of participants that do not know what their drug benefit maximum or most frequent drug copayment is, and this level increased from 2000 to 2001;
	Respondents in 2001 compared to 2000 had a greater tolerance level for higher copayments and reduced benefit maximums as evidenced by their desired Rx benefit levels;
	Of the four participant categories, non-Medicare friends and family of Medicare HMO members consistently had more concrete opinions regarding the drug benefit questions asked (far fewer indicated "don't know" or "not sure") than the three categories of Medicare eligible participants;
	The friends and family group indicated a relatively greater tolerance for higher drug copayments, and willingness to pay additional monthly premiums for the desired drug benefit;
	Plan overall satisfaction levels were significantly higher than drug benefit satisfaction levels;
	The correlation between Rx Benefit Maximum levels and Rx satisfaction is stronger than the correlation between Rx Copayment levels and Rx satisfaction;
	Rx satisfaction levels dropped materially from 2000 to 2001, with the corresponding proportion shifting from satisfied to "not sure";
	82.5% of those satisfied with Plan overall were also satisfied with Rx benefit. 64.4% of those satisfied with the Rx benefit were satisfied with the plan overall. 66.7% of those dissatisfied with the Rx benefit were also dissatisfied with plan overall;
	In 2001, 53% were willing to pay over $25 in additional monthly premiums to receive their desired Rx benefit level , and 18% over $50 per month;
	Benefit levels and satisfaction levels vary widely by region. The Pacific and Mountain regions have higher benefit maximums. Copayments and willingness to pay additional premiums vary somewhat less by region;
	A segment was identified of the participants that demonstrated a "sense of entitlement", desiring unlimited Rx benefit maximums, and Rx copayments between $0 and $4, but were felt the additional monthly premium for their desired benefit should either be $0 or between $1-4.

A CD-ROM is now available through MCOL's HealthQuest publications division which includes a detailed 39 page report with survey data and findings, plus an excel spreadsheet with survey responses that can accommodate custom analysis.

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