Medicare Supplement
What are Medicare Supplements
Medicare Supplements are sold by private insurance companies and also known by Medigap policies. These policies help cover the out of pocket expenses that Medicare does not cover. With a Medigap policy, your medical expenses will be covered by Medicare up to its limit. Once your Medicare limit is hit, then your Medicare supplement will cover the amount up to its limit. Medicare Supplement limits will usually pay of the remainder of your expenses. As always though, that will depend on which policy you choose.
10 Medigap plans
Each private insurance companies have standardized guidelines which are set by Medicare.
There are 10 Medigap plans:
Every company has to follow the standardized guidelines set by Medicare. The Medigap plans are Plan A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N. No matter which company you purchase your Medigap plan from, their plans feature the same set of benefits. The doctors networks are all the same (the Medicare network) and claims experience is the exact same since all claims are handled by Medicare
The only difference between an Plan G with Company A and Plan G with Company B in the same area is the cost of the coverage. Cost is a big deal with Medicare supplement. That's why we shop the market for our clients.
To make things easy there are only 3 Medicare Supplement Plans that most people buy. Let's take a look at those.
Plan F
Plan F is the most comprehensive Medicare Supplement plan. It is only available to people that qualified for Medicare before January 1, 2020.
Plan G
Plan G is the 2nd most comprehensive Medicare Supplement plan. It is available to all Medicare beneficiaries that qualify. The only difference between Plan F and Plan G is the Part B deductible.
Plan N
Plan N is becoming increasingly popular. It is the third most comprehensive Medicare Supplement plan and we've seen clients love this lower cost option. It covers what Plan G does except for some deductibles and excess charges.
Since the only thing that varies from company to company is price it makes sense to pick the cheapest of the plan type you wish to have when you first go on to Medicare because you get to select a plan without any medical underwriting. If you wish to change plans after that, you will have to health qualify to make a change. Health qualifications vary from carrier to carrier.
Here's a quoter so you can see what we mean about price.