The cost of health insurance is rising for Minnesotans with Medicare plans, according to newly finalized plans released by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
5 EYEWITNESS NEWS started digging into Medicare plan options for 2026 after nonprofit UCare announced it would no longer be offering “Medicare Advantage” next year.
Approximately 158,000 Minnesotans, mostly seniors, will need to find a new insurance plan, with open enrollment beginning on Oct. 15.
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The newly released Medicare plan options come with a jump in cost and questions about keeping your doctor, said Kelli Jo Greiner, a health care policy analyst for the Minnesota Board on Aging and the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS).
Greiner told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS in September that the biggest concern beneficiaries have raised is the ability to keep the same doctors.
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Asked again on Wednesday if that’s going to be possible without UCare Medicare Advantage as an option in 2026, she replied, “That’s an excellent question, and at this point in time, we don’t know the answer to that.”
“People are asking, of course, ‘Does my provider participate?’ Because they don’t want to have to go with a plan where they’re required to change providers, and so that is a huge concern for them.”
Renée Cooper: “So people can’t guarantee that when they pick a plan — when they enroll in a plan — that their doctor will still be under that plan come January, or any time in the year?”
Greiner: “That’s correct… They sign up for the plan, and that’ll become their plan in January. But the providers could have changed between Oct. 15 and Jan. 1, because the providers can pull out of the plans at any time.”
That happened last year, she added.
“We’re hoping we’re not going to see that this year, but we don’t know.”
There are some guarantees, Greiner said. Once you select a plan, the monthly premium and out-of-pocket costs must stay the same.
It’s enough reason to research your options, especially because Greiner said the average premium for Medicare plans in Minnesota has gone up about 18%.
“Which is a big increase from one year to the next,” she said. “And the premiums go up, the deductibles go up, the co-pays go up, and people have to find the funds to pay for these things.”
University of Minnesota Health Policy and Management Professor Jean Abraham stressed that there should still be affordable options for many Minnesotans. She largely blamed inflation for rising premium prices.
“Additionally, when you have an insurer exit, that can reduce the amount of competition in a local market, and that can have important implications for premiums as well as the generosity of benefits,” Abraham said.
Supplemental benefits include “things like vision care, dental gym discounts, and other types of benefits around food, for example,” Abraham continued. “We know that insurers are starting to really carefully re-examine those offerings, and in some context, pulling back on the generosity of those.”
“There are options,” Greiner said. “There are viable options for many Medicare beneficiaries, maybe not for everybody, but there’s something out there that it is worth them taking their time to look at the options for 2026. What happens far too often is people don’t even look at their options for the next year, and then they get a lot of surprises on Jan. 1.”
Greiner and Abraham shared a couple of places people can turn to for assistance in navigating plan options:
- Call Minnesota Aging Pathways: 1-800-333-2433
- Consult medicare.gov for a “comprehensive online tool where individuals can compare their plan options,” according to Abraham.
The Medicare.gov website also has a plan compare feature, Abraham said, adding it allows people to compare, “apples to apples,” their current plans to the options available for 2026.
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