There are numerous changes to insurance that will take effect beginning in January 2024. Here is a summary of some of those changes:
Starting in 2024, health insurance companies will be required to keep 26-year-old household members on their parent’s plan through the end of the plan year (December 31) in which they turn 26.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the updated analysis of marketplace insurers’ early rate filings are requesting a median premium increase of 6% for 2024, which they say is largely due to price increases for medical care and prescription drugs. Insurers’ rate requests are preliminary and may change during the review process.
Beginning in 2024, there will no longer be a partial program in the Low-Income Subsidy program. Full benefits will be offered to people with Medicare with limited resources and incomes up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level, which in 2023 is $21,870 per year
Eliminating coinsurance above the catastrophic phase threshold In 2024 will lower out of pocket costs by thousands of dollars for Medicare Part D enrollees who use expensive drugs. With the elimination of the 5% coinsurance requirement for Part D enrollees in the catastrophic coverage phase, Part D plans will be required to pay 20% of total drug costs in this phase in 2024, up from 15% in 2023 and prior years.
Also starting in 2024, the calculation of the base beneficiary premium will be adjusted, as needed, to limit increases in the base premium to no more than 6% from the prior year. (Premiums for individual Part D plan premiums and annual plan-level premium increases will continue to vary, however.)
The average monthly premium for Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage is expected to fall slightly in 2024, to $55.50, a 99-cent drop from the 2023 average of $56.49, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Medicare Part B premiums could rise by about $15 a month in 2024 to a total of about $179.80 per month, according to a projection from The Senior Citizens League, a nonprofit that advocates issues affecting seniors.