DSNP stands for Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan. It is not a product name and not one company's offering: it is a CATEGORY defined in federal regulation, a kind of Medicare Advantage plan that may only enrol people who also qualify for Medicaid. That single eligibility rule is what makes the category exist, and it is also what makes the question worth answering with a number rather than a brochure, because the population it serves is very unevenly distributed across the country.
The category is defined by who may join it
A Special Needs Plan is a Medicare Advantage plan that federal rules allow to restrict its membership, which ordinary Medicare Advantage plans may not do. There are three kinds, and the dual eligible one restricts membership to people entitled to both Medicare and Medicaid. Everything else that is said about these plans follows from that restriction rather than from any insurer's design: because every member has two payers, the plan is built around coordinating them, and because Medicaid eligibility is a state decision, the same federal category behaves differently in different states.
How many people this actually describes, state by state
This site measures dual eligibility directly, because CMS publishes it: every state page carries a count of the people in that state covered by Medicaid as well as Medicare, taken from CMS's own Medicare Monthly Enrollment file and dated. That count is the real size of the DSNP-eligible population where a reader lives, and it varies enormously between states, in a pattern that has more to do with each state's Medicaid rules than with anything about Medicare. It is the number to read before reading anything written by someone who sells these plans.
What this page will not tell you
It will not name a plan, say what one covers, quote a premium or a star rating, or suggest that anyone should join one. Those are marketing statements under the federal rules that govern this market, and this site is a reference rather than a marketing organisation. Whether a particular person is eligible depends on their Medicaid status, which is decided by their state and not by any website, and whether a particular plan suits them depends on their doctors and their medicines. The State Health Insurance Assistance Program answers both, free, and is not paid on the answer.
Questions people ask about dsnp
Is DSNP a company or a plan name?
Neither. It is a category in CMS's rules. Many insurers offer plans that fall into it, and this site names none of them.
Who is eligible?
People entitled to Medicare who also qualify for Medicaid. Because Medicaid eligibility is set by each state, the same federal rule admits different people in different places.
How do I find out whether I qualify for Medicaid?
Through your state's Medicaid agency, or through your State Health Insurance Assistance Program, which gives free counselling and is not paid on what you choose.
Why does this site count dual eligibility at all?
Because CMS publishes it on the same row as everything else this index carries, and it is the only honest way to say how large this category's population is where a reader lives.