egwps

Retiree Coverage Dropping Dramatically; Employers Rely More On Medicare Advantage The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) finds that the number of employers providing retiree coverage is dropping dramatically. Among large employers that offer health benefits to active workers, the share offering retiree coverage has dropped from 66% in 1988 to 24% in 2024. The trend will create huge new affordability issues for the nation as aging continues. Still, that covers 14.5 million Medicare beneficiaries with important secondary coverage to fill in the big holes in the traditional Medicare program. In order to continue coverage and limit costs, employers more and more are turning to wrapping the retiree benefit around Medicare Advantage (MA), known as EGWPs. About 56% of large employers offering retiree health benefits in 2024 offer coverage to at least some retirees through an MA plan, more than double the share in 2017 (26%). About 53% require enrollment in MA.