Why Medigap?
When you have Part A and Part B Medicare coverage, you often are still required to make payments to the hospital for certain services. With the right supplement package, you can cut out some of these unnecessary costs. There are some big differences in each plan, so you will need to plan accordingly.
Types of Medicare Supplement Insurance
There are effectively ten different Medicare Supplement Insurance plans on the market, though two of them are not currently available to new Medicare enrollees. The plans are designated as A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N.
Plans G and F are the most comprehensive plans, while others offer different mixes of costs and benefits.
Medigap Costs
The cost of Medigap coverage varies depending on numerous factors. Here are four common pricing metrics for Medigap coverage:
- Community rated: With this type of policy, you will be charged the same rates as any other plan member.
- Issue-age rated: Some policies determine your policy rates using your age as a factor. Issue-age rated policies do not use your age to decide future premium increases.
- Attained-age rated: This Medigap plan is also age-related, but it can rise as you get older.
Medigap Benefits
Medigap benefits are mostly the same across Medigap plans, except there are a few variances.
Here are some Medigap benefits you may find in your policy.
- Part A Coinsurance
- Hospital Costs
- Part B Coinsurance
- Blood
- Hospice care
- Skilled nursing facility care
- Part A deductible
- Part B deductible
- Foreign Travel Emergency