A brief but useful discussion on Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans

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The Medicare Supplement Plans as it is known are supplementary insurance plans that are meant to bridge the gap between the policy coverage of the Original Medicare and the actual medical bill payable. The fact is that the Original Medicare has several gaps that doesn’t pay for all the medical services that you may need. Therefore if you are already a beneficiary of the Original Medicare plan you may need to get a Medicare Supplement Plan along with it to meet all your medical costs. 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 insurance policies are sold by the private insurance companies and are under their sole administration. 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. However, almost all of the twelve Medigap policies provide the basic benefits of Medicare part A and B. Therefore it is always recommended to study all the Medigap plans before deciding to choose the one that would fit the best for you. 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.

As stated earlier all of the twelve Medigap policies covers the basic benefits, but each one of them provides some additional benefits that vary according to the plan. To give an example the Medigap plan A is the most basic plan, and all the other plans from B to L offers every benefits of Plan A and each one of them have their own set of extra coverage. Plans K-L offer similar services as Plans A-J, but the cost-sharing for the basic benefits is at different levels.

However, there are also some restrictions in Medigap policies. As for example starting from 2006, the Medigap Plans H, I and J cannot be sold to the beneficiaries of prescription-drug benefits, but the people who already had those policies can keep them. Another important thing about the Medigap policies is that no Medicare Supplement Plans can be sold to any person under the Medicare Advantage plans. Even if you are already having Medicare Supplement Plans and you switch over to Medicare Advantage plan from Original Medicare, you cannot use your Medigap benefits unless you switch back to Original Medicare. Thus it is essential to pay proper attention while choosing your health insurance policy and your Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans.


Best Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans, Medicare Supplement Insurance Companies and Medicare supplement insurance available here.

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