Since the beginning of the Medicare Part D program in 2006, Medicare Advantage plans have become more popular with the Medicare community as people learned more about these somewhat complex coverage options.

As most of you may know, Medicare Advantage plans provide coverage traditionally found under your Medicare Part A (hospitalization and in-patient care) and Medicare Part B (doctor visits and out-patient care) – and may also provide prescription drug coverage along with other benefits not usually offered by original Medicare.

However, Medicare Advantage plans are definitely difficult to compare because of the variation and complexity of coverage. So to help you better review 2015 Medicare Advantage plans, we offer our 2015 MA-Finder that now includes all of the health benefit or coverage details for Medicare Advantage plans across the country.

To get you started, you can click here for an example of the Medicare Advantage plans available in Summit County, Ohio. Just change the Zip code to your own Zip to see the Medicare Advantage plans available in your service area.

Once you find a Medicare Advantage plan that looks interesting, you can click on the small “detail” icon below the Medicare Advantage plan name (it looks like a small stack of paper) and then you can see all of the coverage information for that plan. And yes, the coverage detail page is rather long.

Here is an overview of what is happening with 2015 Medicare Advantage plans:

• The total number of 2015 Medicare Advantage plans will decrease slightly.  However, when viewed in detail, many 2014 Medicare Advantage plans will be terminated or merged into other 2015 plans and new Medicare Advantage plans will be added.
  

• The counties with the largest decrease in the number of 2015 Medicare Advantage plans are found in the states of: Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio.

•  Most 2015 Medicare Advantage plans will include prescription drug coverage (MAPDs).

•  Slightly fewer 2015 Medicare Advantage plans will have a $0 premium as compared to 2014. 

• The majority of 2015 Medicare Advantage plans will be HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations), with the number of PFFS (Private Fee for Service) Medicare Advantage plans decreasing significantly in 2015.

• Over 16% of the 2014 Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans (SNPs) will be discontinued in 2015.  On the positive side, a number of 2015 Medicare Advantage SNPs will be added across the country to give only a slight net decrease of 2015 SNPs.

• As in prior years, no Medicare Advantage plans are offered in Alaska.

Not sure where to begin with your search for a Medicare Advantage plan?
Just click on your state to begin and then click on your county name for a complete list of Medicare Advantage plans available in your area: AK AL AR AZ CA CO CT DC DE FL GA HI IA ID IL IN KS KY LA MA MD ME MI MN MO MS MT NC ND NE NH NJ NM NV NY OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VA VT WA WI WV WY