Medicare Advantage West Virginia

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, every Medicare member in West Virginia will be able to pick a Medicare Advantage plan over Original Medicare in 2023. Not only that, but everyone will have access to at least one plan with a $0 premium.

Medicare Advantage has become a popular alternative to traditional Medicare, covering everything that Original Medicare (Parts A and B together) covers along with additional benefits, like prescription drugs, dental, vision, hearing, gym memberships, telemedicine, post-hospital meal delivery and more.

You’ll always pay a premium for Original even if you have a private health plan, but your premium for Medicare Advantage varies. In West Virginia, the average premium for private plans in 2023 is $21.05 a month. That’s about a $4 drop over the average for last year.

With broader benefits and potentially lower costs, it’s not surprising that enrollment in Medicare Advantage is on the rise. As of 2022, about 45% of West Virginians with Medicare had chosen Medicare Advantage over Original Medicare, per data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. That matches the national average.

UnitedHealthcare/AARP, Aetna, Humana and BlueCross BlueShield are among the big carriers in West Virginia.

There will be 53 Medicare Advantage plans available in West Virginia this year, though access to specific plans varies based on where you live in the state.

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Sources
CMS, state data fact sheet released September 29, 2022
Kaiser Family Foundation, “Medicare Advantage in 2022: Enrollment Update and Key Trends”