What Is Medicare Supplemental Insurance?

A Medicare Supplemental Insurance, as it names states, is a supplementary insurance one can get from a private insurance company in order to help you pay for some of the expenses not covered by the Original Medicare Plan. This kind of insurance is also known under the name of Medigap policy. There are 12 Medicare policies named Plan A, Plan B and all the way up to Plan L that can be purchased in almost all the states except Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Since these kinds of insurances are supporting the Original Medicare plan, they can only be bought by people who have Medicare. Also a Medigap policy covers only one person, thus your spouse will have to purchase one too.

These Medicare policies are sold by private insurance companies. These insurances companies also offer other kinds of health insurances. However if you have Medicare you might consider one of the 12 standard plans offered at a national level and which follow federal and state laws. All the plans offer the same basic benefits and each of them offers extra benefits. Before you actually purchase a Medicare Supplemental Insurance make sure you know which of the 12 available plans suits your needs best. The Medigap appeared to help Medicare insured people cover some of the costs that the Original Medicare Plan does not cover. Since the Medigap is a personal insurance and it only works for the person insured, before deciding which plan suits you best you have to carefully think about your medical needs as well as your financial possibilities. Medigap insurance costs different from plan to plan and from one private insurance company to another.

No matter of which Medicare Supplemental Insurance you choose they all offer some basic benefits like hospital coinsurance for up to 150 days, and hospital payment in full for an additional 365 days. Also the first 10 plans offer Part A and Part B blood deductible for the first three pints of blood and Part B 20% coinsurance for other services including the physician. The rest of the benefits each plan offer are considered extra benefits. Some of them are: Part A hospital deductible, Part B annual deductible, foreign travel emergency and at home recovery. Of course all these are covering a certain amount of money which sometimes can be a stated amount or a percentage from the sum. The Part A and Part B refer to the 2 parts of the Original Medicare Plan. With the supplemental Medicare policies one need to have both Part A and Part B of the Medicare.

In the Original Medicare Plan Part A is the Hospital Insurance that most people on Medicare don’t have to pay for except in special circumstances. One is entitled to Medicare Part A if he and/or the spouse worked at least 10 years and paid Medicare taxes. Part A pays for some of costs resulted from you being in hospital care, nursing home, home health care and hospice care. Part B is the Medical Insurance that people pay for monthly. This part covers some of the expenses that result from doctors’ fees and other medical services. Neither Part A nor Part B of the original plan will pay for everything. In fact the Original Medicare Plan does not cover hospital services beyond 150 days of illness or skilled nursing services over 100 days of illness.

Any of the Medicare policies or Medigap policies have to visibly print on the cover that they are a Medicare Supplemental Insurance. They appeared as a need to further help a Medicare insured individual to cover his or her medical costs.

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