Brief: "Challenges of Choice in Medicare: The Role of Agents and Brokers in a Public Program"

Medicare beneficiaries face many choices when entering the program and often seek assistance from health insurance agents and brokers to determine their coverage options. An analysis of how these actors may influence Medicare enrollment reveals that their financial incentives may be misaligned with the beneficiaries they serve. Additionally, the Medicare Advantage (MA) sales industry has grown rapidly in tandem with MA enrollment growth, spending billions of taxpayer dollars annually on marketing and sales. This may represent a significant, understudied target for reducing MA overspending. This brief identifies strategies to help beneficiaries navigate enrollment and reduce taxpayer spending on the MA sales industry, including tying agent and broker commission increases to inflation and benchmarking them to other insurance markets, and increasing funding for neutral enrollment assistance.