Changes are coming to some seniors' healthcare plans

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Kimberly Adams (1:01)

It's open enrollment season and changes are coming for many seniors.

From Marketplace in Washington, I'm Kimberly Adams. Open enrollment for Medicare starts tomorrow. Seniors will have until early December to sign up for traditional Medicare plan or a Medicare Advantage plan through a private insurance company. But many with Advantage plans have no choice but to pick a new one because some major insurers are dropping plans. Marketplace's Samantha Fields reports.

Samantha Fields (1:29)

More than half of people on Medicare have an Advantage plan through a private insurance company. In recent weeks, many have received notices telling them their current plan isn't being offered in 2027 and they'll have to pick a new one.

Jeannie Fugleston-Bennick (1:42)

It happens every year to some extent.

Samantha Fields (1:44)

But Jeannie Fugleston-Bennick at the health policy nonprofit KFF says it is becoming more common.

Jeannie Fugleston-Bennick (1:50)

We have seen last year and this year that there has been somewhat more disruption in the Medicare Advantage market.

Samantha Fields (1:57)

She says that's largely because of recent policy changes at the federal level, reducing how much private insurers get reimbursed for Medicare Advantage.

SPEAKER_6 (2:05)

On top of that, the insurers are dropping some plans.

Samantha Fields (2:08)

Marketplace's Samantha Fields reports. Health care costs are rising and seniors are using more medical care these days.

SPEAKER_6 (2:15)

For insurers, it's less profits for them, so they're less excited about being in this market.

Samantha Fields (2:20)

People who live in cities or in the suburbs will likely still have plenty of Medicare Advantage options to choose from, Ho says, even if their current plan is going away.

SPEAKER_6 (2:30)

The seniors who are living in smaller rural areas are going to be the ones who are going to have the hardest time finding a Medicare Advantage plan.

Samantha Fields (2:38)

Some will have no option but to go with a traditional Medicare plan through the federal government, which Ho says can end up being more expensive. I'm Samantha Fields for Marketplace.

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Kimberly Adams (4:11)

The growing popularity of sports gambling has come with financial health concerns. A recent UCLA study finds that easier betting access harms consumers by increasing debt. The nonprofit newsroom ProPublica gave one of its reporters some money to test the guardrails on some betting apps. Jake Pearson wrote about his experience. His story is, I deliberately bet like a problem gambler, DraftKings made me a VIP.

Jake joins me now for more. Good morning.

Jake Pearson (4:40)

Hey, good morning. Thanks for having me.

Kimberly Adams (4:41)

How much were you betting and I guess more importantly, how much were you losing?

Jake Pearson (4:47)

I'll give you all the figures. Net loss to the company was $10,700. I had $22,000 at my disposal for this experiment and there were upswings and downswings. But something I learned over the course of doing this reporting from my experts, it's not just about the net loss, it's the pattern of the bets. For example, I would often do what's called loss chasing. When I would lose on a game, I would chase that loss with more bets of bigger amounts at longer odds to try and recuperate what I just sunk. I would do other things. There's something called micro betting, which is just placing a distinct discrete wager on an event in a game. What's the next pitch at a baseball game going to be?