Wyden Investigation Finds Rapid Growth in Spending on Marketing Middlemen Among Medicare Advantage Plans
Third-Party Marketing Organizations Resort to Increasingly Predatory Tactics to Enroll Seniors in Preferred Private Medicare Plans that Don’t Meet Their Needs
Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today released an investigation into the marketing practices of health insurance companies that sell Medicare Advantage plans, with a focus on third-party marketing organizations (TPMOs) that insurers are increasingly employing to maximize the number of American seniors enrolled in their plans.
“Marketing middlemen are exploiting Medicare Advantage rules to aggressively push private MA plans on seniors,” Wyden said. “Americans are sick of middlemen driving up costs and delivering a lousy product - it’s time to crack down on these abusive practices that harm seniors and waste taxpayer dollars.
Key findings of the report include:
- Spending on “agents and brokers fees and commissions” by insurance companies investigated by the committee increased $2.4 billion to $6.9 billion from 2018 to 2023, nearly tripling.
- State and federal regulators have limited oversight of marketing practices, especially with the increased use of TPMOs and other subcontractors.
- The Medicare Advantage marketing boom has encouraged insurance companies and brokers to aggressively enroll seniors into plans that may not cover their preferred doctor or cover key health benefits.
The investigation is the next step in Wyden’s continued focus on health care middlemen, with a special focus on Medicare marketing practices that hurt seniors enrolling in Medicare Advantage. In 2022, Wyden released a report surveying the use of deceptive mailers, aggressive marketing, and the dramatic uptick in consumer complaints surrounding MA marketing. In 2023, Wyden convened a hearing to examine marketing issues ahead of the MA open enrollment season. In 2024, Wyden opened an inquiry into five TPMOs’ business practices that resulted in today’s investigation.
The full report can be found here.
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