Wellcare Medicare Advantage 2023 Review

Wellcare is part of Centene Corp., which is the sixth-largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans^[0]

Wellcare’s ratings are lower than other providers' numbers. Only about one-tenth of 1% of Wellcare’s members who are in contracts that have a Medicare star rating are in one with a rating of 4 or higher (out of 5) in 2023. Wellcare’s plans struggle in many categories, and member satisfaction places them behind other Medicare Advantage providers.

Here’s what you should know about Wellcare Medicare Advantage.

Wellcare Medicare Advantage pros and cons

Wellcare’s Medicare Advantage plans have upsides and downsides.

Pros

• Company strength: In 2020, Centene completed its acquisition of Wellcare, and the combined entities claimed 5.01% of the Medicare Advantage market in 2022^[0]

  The Chartis Group. Medicare Advantage Enrollment Continues to Surge in an Increasingly Complex and Competitive Landscape. Accessed Mar 8, 2023.

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• Dental, vision and hearing benefits: Some Wellcare plans include the Flex Card, which comes preloaded with additional funds members can use on dental, vision and hearing benefits once they’ve exhausted their plan coverage.

• Extra benefits for the chronically ill: Some plans include special supplementary benefits for the chronically ill, including food, utility, in-home fitness services and care concierge benefits.

• Part B premium coverage: Some plans include a Giveback benefit that refunds some or all of your Medicare Part B premium.

Cons

• Low star ratings: For 2023, Wellcare’s average star rating from Medicare — weighted by enrollment — is 2.88 stars (out of 5 stars), compared with an overall average among all Medicare Advantage plans of 4.15 stars. Wellcare’s contracts also score poorly on many individual factors, from the percentage of plan members who get a flu shot to how easy it is for members to get help when they need it.

• Member discontent: When it comes to member satisfaction, J.D. Power found that Centene (which acquired Wellcare in early 2020) came in last out of the nine Medicare Advantage companies ranked.

• Limited state coverage: Wellcare’s footprint lags behind several other providers. Wellcare offers Medicare Advantage plans in 36 states and special needs plans, or SNPs, in 32 states.

Wellcare Medicare Advantage star ratings

Average star rating, weighted by enrollment: 2.88

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services maintains its own database of star ratings on every Medicare Advantage and separate Medicare Part D plan, ranging from best (5 stars) to worst (1 star). The agency bases these ratings on plans’ quality of care and measurements of customer satisfaction, and ratings may change from year to year.

All Medicare Advantage plans are evaluated on health plan measures, and Medicare Advantage plans that include prescription drug coverage are also evaluated on drug plan measures.

Based on the most recent year of data and weighted by enrollment, Wellcare’s 2023 Medicare Advantage plans get an average rating of 2.88 stars^[0]

For comparison, the average weighted star rating for plans from all providers is 4.15^[0]

Only one Wellcare Medicare Advantage contract received 4 stars for 2023, so only about one-tenth of 1% of Wellcare's members who are in rated contracts are in a contract with 4 stars or more as of January 2023^[0]

There were also 14 Wellcare contracts that were too new to be measured and 17 more with insufficient data available for scoring by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

You can find a plan’s rating with the Medicare plan finding tool.

» MORE: How do I sign up for Medicare?

What does Wellcare Medicare Advantage cost?

Costs for Medicare Advantage plans will depend on your plan, your geographic location and your health needs.

Premiums

One of the costs to consider is the plan’s premium. Of Wellcare’s HMO, PPO and PFFS plans in 2023, nearly seven out of 10 offer a $0 premium. For plans with a premium, monthly costs range from $6.10 to $232^[0]

Even as a Medicare Advantage user, you’ll still be responsible for paying your Medicare Part B premium, which is at least $164.90 per month in 2023. (Most people pay this standard amount, but if your income is above a certain threshold, you’ll pay more.)

Copays, coinsurance and deductibles

Requirements for copays, coinsurance and deductibles vary depending on your plan, location and the services you use. Out-of-pocket costs to consider include:

• The plan's deductibles.

• Copayments and/or coinsurance for each visit or service. For instance, there may be a $10 copay for seeing your primary doctor and a $45 copay for seeing a specialist.

• The plan’s in-network and out-of-network out-of-pocket maximums.

• Whether your medical providers are in-network or out-of-network, and how often you may go out-of-network for care.

• Whether you require extra benefits, and if the plan charges for them.

To get a sense of costs, use Medicare’s plan finding tool to compare information among available plans in your area. You can select by insurance carrier to see only Wellcare plans, or compare across carriers. You can also shop directly from Wellcare’s website by entering your ZIP code, and you’ll be able to compare the plans available.

Wellcare Medicare Advantage plan types

Wellcare offers several kinds of Medicare Advantage plans, and they vary in structure, costs and benefits.

In general, Wellcare offers Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans, or MAPDs, as well as stand-alone prescription drug plans and Medicare Advantage plans without drug coverage.

Plan offerings include the following types:

Additional benefits

Wellcare Medicare Advantage offers many members access to dental, vision and hearing benefits, unlike Original Medicare. Many of its plans offer other benefits, as well. Here are a few standouts:

• Flex Card: Depending on your plan and service area, some members may have access to a Visa debit card preloaded with between $100 and $2,000 that they can use to help pay for dental, vision or hearing needs beyond plan coverage.

• Over-the-counter benefit: Some plan members may get an allowance they can put toward over-the-counter items like cough and cold meds, first-aid supplies, vitamins and pain relievers.

• Fitness benefits: Some plans may cover the cost of an annual membership at a participating health club or fitness center.

• Meal delivery: Some plans include free meal delivery to members who qualify with no copay.

• Telehealth: Many plans cover telehealth video visits with no copay.

Wellcare Medicare Advantage service area

Wellcare offers Medicare Advantage plans in 36 states, and Medicare prescription drug plans in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The Wellcare brand will offer Medicare Advantage plans in 209 new counties in 2023^[0]

Centene is the fifth-largest Medicare Advantage provider among for-profit health plans. Nearly 1.5 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in a Centene Medicare Advantage plan, and the company added 338,000 new members for the 2022 plan year.

Customer service

Wellcare members can contact their plan’s customer service in the following ways:

• Send a question through a Contact form.

• Call the member number on your Wellcare card.

• Visit your Wellcare state page (search “Wellcare” and your state) and select Contact Us. This page contains phone numbers for current and prospective Medicare members, prescription drug plan members and a Nurse Advice Line, depending on the state.

Third-party ratings

There are a few companies that weigh in on health plans or on the strength of the company in question, and we’ve included two here:

J.D. Power Ranking: 9th out of 9

In its 2022 U.S. Medicare Advantage Study — the eighth it's done so far — J.D. Power measured member satisfaction with Medicare Advantage plans based on six factors: coverage and benefits, provider choice, cost, customer service, information and communication, and billing and payment. On these measures, Centene (which acquired Wellcare) scored 773 points out of 1,000 and came in last out of nine Medicare Advantage providers^[0]

NCQA Score Range: 2.5 to 3.0 out of 5

The National Committee for Quality Assurance rates health insurance plans on a 5-point scale (with 5 being best) based on clinical quality, member satisfaction and results from the NCQA Accreditation Survey. The ratings highlight the results of care and what patients say about their care.

In September 2022, the NCQA ranked Wellcare plans between 2.5 and 3.0 stars, with seven of the 10 rated plans scoring 3.0 stars. The three plans with 2.5 stars were WellCare Health Insurance of Arizona in Louisiana, WellCare Health Insurance of North Carolina and WellCare Health Insurance of Arizona.^[0]

About Wellcare

Wellcare was founded in 1985 and became a subsidiary of Centene in 2020. The company's headquarters are in Tampa, Florida. Wellcare offers coverage through Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug plans. As of October 2022, Centene covered nearly 1.5 million Medicare Advantage members.

Centene posted total revenues of $126 billion in 2021.

» MORE: Read our review of Wellcare's Medicare Part D plans