Hi, I'm Jessica Mannion at My Healthcare Direct, and in this video I'm going to be going over what the Medicare Supplement Plan K is, what the benefits are in terms of what it covers, and what it doesn't cover especially when it compares to other Medicare supplement plans.

Most of you have probably heard of plans such as Plan F, Plan G, Plan N, but not many people have heard of Plan K and for some people there's a good reason for it.

If we take a look at this table here you'll see where Plan K falls in comparison to all the other Medicare supplement plans.

As you can see, percentage-wise, it doesn't cover nearly as much as the other supplements such as F, G and N.

Let's go over what exactly Plan K does cover.

The only thing it covers at a 100%, like the other supplements, is your Part A hospital coinsurance. Everything else is either not covered at all or only covered at 50%.

So one of the things that is covered at 50% is your Part A deductible, which in 2021 is $1,484. It also only covers your Part B coinsurance at 50%, the cost of a blood transfusion, as well as hospice care and skilled nursing facilities, which is basically where you go once you are released from the hospital.

Now there are some things that it doesn't cover at all, which of course is foreign travel emergencies.

It doesn't cover excess charges for Part B (which I talked about in another video explaining what that is, how it works), as well as the Part B deductible which in 2021 is $203.

So, let's talk about what kind of cost you can expect on a Plan K.

• Well the first cost you're going to be responsible for is that Plan K premium. That is something that you pay regardless of whether you use the coverage or not.
• Then you can expect to see any excess charges if there are any,
• Your Part B deductible,
• Foreign travel,
• You would pay 50% of your Part A deductible, if necessary,
• 50% of skilled nursing,
• You would pay 50% of hospice care,
• You would pay 50% of a blood transfusion, which usually is the first three pints, and
• You would also be responsible for 50% of your Part B coinsurance.

So while you might have a lower premium for a Plan K there are some higher out of pocket costs.

Now there is one thing I wanted to make sure to draw attention to which is unique to a Plan K that a lot of the other supplements don't have.

The Plan K does have an out of pocket limit. So what that means is once you've reached that limit then the plan will pay 100% of your Medicare approved costs for the remainder of the year.

If you think about when you had major medical insurance through an employer you usually have what's called an out of pocket maximum. This works very similarly to that and in 2021 the Plan K's out of pocket limit is $6,220.

So again, this plan is not really a popular option. Not many people tend to go with it because you're not really getting what you're paying for but if you have any other questions about Medicare supplement plans and the options that you have feel free to give us a call at 888-959-1028