Posts Tagged ‘Discussion’

To talk about Medicare and Medicare Supplement Plans, the first thing that we need to know is what is Medicare? The answer is almost known to all. But still let us define it a little. Actually Medicare is the health insurance for people about the age of 65 or older. This is also a health insurance for people under the age of 65 with certain disabilities. This is also applicable for people of any age with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) such as permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant. The Original Medicare plans covers most of the health care services costs. As for example impatient care in hospitals, skilled nursing facility, hospice, and home health care, costs for prescription drugs, etc. It may also help lower your prescription drug costs and help protect against higher costs in the future.

Though the Original Medicare covers many of the costs for health care services, but still there remains certain costs or gaps that are not covered by the Original Medicare policies. And to cope up with these costs there is the need of having Medicare Supplement Plans. The Medicare Supplement Plans helps you fill up these gaps so that one can easily meet the health care costs. And because of this very feature the Medicare Supplement Plans they are also known as the Medigap policies. These are private health care policies, which are designed to supplement original Medicare plans. These policies are specially designed to cover some of the basic benefits and more especially to fill up the gaps left behind the original Medicare plans. But it should be kept in mind that a Medigap policy is only a supplementary plan to the original Medicare plans and does not provide the total coverage of a Medicare policy. Therefore it means that you need to be under the original Medicare policy in order to get enrolled under a Medigap plan. Medicare will pay its share of the health care costs and the things that are left behind would be covered by the Medicare supplement plans.

Along with these there is another thing that is to be kept in mind and it is that Medigap policy is not in any way related to Medicare advantage plan. Medicare Advantage Plans like HMO or PPO plans are different from Medicare supplement plans. And this is because it is not a way to get Medicare benefits. Moreover, if you switch over from original Medicare to Medicare Advantage Plan, you no longer can use Medigap policy to cover deductibles, copayments, or coinsurance under the Medicare Advantage Plan. And if you already have Medicare Advantage Plan, then it would be illegal for any insurance company to sell you a Medigap policy unless you switch back to Medicare Original Plan. Therefore it can be said that the Medicare Supplement Plans are directly linked to Original Medicare plan.

Moreover, the Medicare Supplement Plans are solely sold and administered by the private insurance companies but they are only allowed to sell 12 standard Medigap plans under the letter cover A through L. Each of these Medigap plans have different policy coverage but the benefits and coverage of the plans are the same under the same letter cover irrespective of the insurance company selling it. Though the amount of premium may differ.

The Medicare supplementary plans which are generally known as supplementary plans that cover the every minute expenditure that are sided by the original Medicare insurance are meant to bridge the gap between the policy coverage of the Original Medicare and the actual medical bill payable. The problem with an original Medicare plan is that it’s bound to some factors as it is unable to pay every medical service that you may need in the time of crisis. So it can be better to say that there are several gaps between the original Medicare plan and actual medical bill which stands for your actual claim of money. But you have to be member of this insurance plan as to claim the benefit of a Medicare supplementary plan insurance. This is for the extra benefits that you are now deprived of. This is a kind of health insurance plan that helps you pay for some of your costs in the original Medicare and also for some of the cost for some medical aid that it does not cover.

These supplementary plans are not under the administration of government like the original Medicare supplementary plans but unlike that it is under the sole administration of some private companies. According to the law the private insurance companies can offer only twelve standard Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans, named A through L. each of these plans have their own set of benefits, different from the others. But to be precise all the supplementary plans provides the basic benefits of the Medicare part A and B. It is always advisable to read and study all the Medicare insurances plans before investing your money because it is very important to make your mind in which you are aiming to invest your money to support your future. What is important for you will invest in that plan and will be benefited in that crisis. All the twelve policies are made remembering all the requirements that are generally needed in the health crisis. Besides that the fact that should be kept in mind is that, no matter from whatever insurance company you may purchase a particular plan, all of the plans with the same letter cover must provide the same benefits. As for example if you purchase a Medigap plan C policy, it should cover the same benefits without depending on the company that is selling the plan. However, the premium rates may vary for different companies. Therefore you are free to purchase any Medigap policy from the company you like and be sure to get the same benefits provided by the other companies. Though it is said earlier that all the twelve plans covers more or less basic benefits but each one of them offers some additional benefits also. Apart from plan A all the other plans B to L offers some different kinds of benefits of plans.

Medicare supplements plans are also known as Medigap policies because it covers or bridge the gap between the original and the supplementary. Both the Medigap and Medicare supplementary plans are the same known by two different names.