Archive for the ‘Med Supp Plans’ Category
Friday, February 10th, 2012
The types of plans that help you add to your Medicare coverage changed in 2010 and some of Medicare’s rules changed in 2011, but how you shop for Medicare Supplement Insurance remains the same. You still need a lot of comparison-shopping to get the best value in Medicare Supplement Plans.
Depending on where you live, you may be able to use Medicare Advantage Plans, Medigap Plans and Prescription Drug Plans to pay for many of your health care needs. Each of these options comes with different
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Saturday, February 4th, 2012
Hospital bills, prescription medicines, and other medical expenses are a bigger problem during retirement when your income is reduced. That's also the time when health care bills tend to increase, but that bad timing doesn't have to completely drain your savings. One very popular option for senior health care is known as Medicare Supplement Insurance or Medigap Insurance. It comes in the form of 10 benefit packages that help out with hospital stays and doctor visits.
Recently, Anthem Blue
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Thursday, January 19th, 2012
Medicare deductibles, along with co-insurance and co-pay charges, can add up to thousands of dollars in medical debt, but Medicare is not your only option. Both Medicare Advantage Plans and Medigap Insurance can expand on the benefits available through traditional Medicare. Your health status may impact those choices, though.
As with conventional health insurance, insurers are permitted to decline applications for Medigap Plans if the applicant has a pre-existing condition. There are certain periods
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Monday, January 16th, 2012
In August, the Congressional debate over who pays for budget cuts heard from the military. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta urged Congress not to trim more of the military budget at any cost. According to Panetta, we should increase taxes and cut Medicare and Social Security. Obviously, he’s not running for election, but will Congress follow his lead?
While the military’s budget was increased by over 70 percent just since 2001, this year is the first time that Medicare has paid for preventive
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Tuesday, January 10th, 2012
Medicare Supplement plans do raise their rates. However, contrary to popular belief, there is no annual enrollment period for Medicare Supplement plans. So, regardless of when you see an increase in your premiums, you may be able to find a better option as long as your health is relatively good. Insurers are still permitted to decline your application if they think you will have a lot of claims.
You may find a few open enrollment periods on Medigap insurance, but that's up to the discretion of
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Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
Medigap Insurance quotes are easy to obtain and can help tremendously in sorting through the many choices for Medicare supplement insurance. Medicare Supplements are standardized so there is no variation in coverage from one company to another. However, the prices and company reputations can vary quite a bit.
It does pay to shop around for the best way to meet your health care needs, and that’s true whether you’re looking at Medigap Plans or Medicare Advantage Plans. But, it doesn’t have
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Thursday, December 29th, 2011
People too often waste money on Medicare Supplemental Insurance. It’s not that the coverage isn’t worthwhile. It’s because more than 45 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have never compared their coverage options, according to a new National Council on Aging and United Healthcare poll.
Depending on where you live, you may be able to use Medicare Advantage Plans, Medigap Plans or Prescription Drug Plans to pay for many of your health care needs. Each of these options comes with different
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Monday, December 26th, 2011
If you have Medicare, you have several different options that can add to your coverage. To make it simple, you can either get your benefits from original Medicare with Medicare Supplement Insurance plans, or you can get similar benefits through one of many Medicare Advantage plans. If you go with an Advantage plan, a private insurance company will handle your Medicare benefits for doctor services, hospital care and prescription drugs.
Those benefits are also known as Medicare Part A for hospitalization,
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Friday, December 23rd, 2011
Wouldn’t it be simpler if Medicare would just pay for all of your doctor bills and any charges if you needed to go to the hospital? Trying to understand whether hospital bills are covered under the same benefit period or whether you have to meet Medicare’s Part B deductible to see a doctor can get really confusing.
Medigap plans or Medicare Supplement Insurance plans can simplify what is covered by filling in Medicare's gaps. For instance, when Medicare pays for 80 percent of your doctor's
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Saturday, December 17th, 2011
The average Medicare beneficiary sees about seven different doctors. They also fill about 20 different prescriptions a year. When you add up all the out-of-pocket costs that Medicare beneficiaries may have for doctor bills and medicine, that's just too hard to budget.
That's why a lot of people have added Medicare Supplemental Insurance or Medigap Plans to help with those bills. These plans come in different "flavors" to let you pick coverage that you're most likely to need. Why pay for something
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Sunday, December 11th, 2011
There are a lot of ideas being thrown around that could ultimately affect what Medicare covers and what Medicare Supplemental Insurance provides. Medicare, itself, has expanded to pay for more health care that’s designed to help you maintain good health.
There's also a new rating system for Medicare Advantage Plans that grants plans with the highest grade year-long open enrollment. High-ranking plans also get bigger subsidies, and that's likely to keep their rates low.
Medigap Insurance
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Monday, December 5th, 2011
You can't say that one plan is better than another in all respects because different benefits fit some people's needs better than others. It's like comparing "apples and oranges." Medicare Advantage plans are very different from Medigap Insurance plans.
Medicare Advantage plans replace traditional Medicare benefits with similar coverage provided by private insurance companies. While Medigap plans are also provided by private insurers, these policies add to Medicare benefits rather than replace them.
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Saturday, November 26th, 2011
First of all, Medicare is divided into different types of coverage. The Original Medicare government benefits are known as Part A and B, and you can enroll in these when you turn 65 or need disability benefits for 24 months. Part A pays for hospitalization after a deductible and Part B covers doctor services after you've met a separate deductible. Most people only need to pay for Part B premiums.
You can add a Part D Prescription Drug plan to cover medication, too, and you can supplement your
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Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
That's a good question because the answer may surprise you. It's the coverage, but not the price, that's standardized for Medigap Insurance plans. While you can count on getting certain benefits from Medigap Plan F, for instance, you can't count on paying the same premium as other Medicare beneficiaries are for the exact same coverage.
To "even the playing field," compare what different insurance companies are charging for a particular Medicare Supplemental Insurance plan. The companies that
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Thursday, November 17th, 2011
Unfortunately, the annual open enrollment period (October 15 to December 7) only applies to Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Part D Prescription Drug plans. When you first become eligible for Medicare, you are entitled to open enrollment for Medicare Supplement plans because you can add one of 10 different forms of Medigap Insurance to fill in gaps in Medicare's coverage.
During the open enrollment period for Medigap plans, insurance companies cannot decline your application because your
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Thursday, November 10th, 2011
When comparing Medicare Supplement plans, it is important to understand the differences in benefits. For Medigap Plan F and Plan G, you'll see that there is only one major difference between them. Plan G costs less because it won't reimburse you for the Medicare Part B deductible.
That deductible is dropping from $162 in 2011 to $140 next year, so if Plan G premiums are low enough to save you more than $140 a year, why pay more for Plan F? You'd be wasting your money because you'd spend more on
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Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
According to the AARP Public Policy Institute, 10 percent of those receiving Medicare benefits (more than 4 million people) spend more than $8,300 of their own money on health care per year. That can really eat a significant hole in retirement savings, and it's one of the main reasons that people supplement Medicare with a Medigap plan.
Medicare Supplement plans pick up health care expenses that Medicare doesn't cover. For instance, while Medicare makes you meet one deductible for doctor services
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Friday, November 4th, 2011
Most Medicare beneficiaries who have Medicare Supplement Insurance (or Medigap) pay more than they need to because they didn't compare rates. The truth is, Medicare Supplemental Insurance plans have standardized benefits, but the prices vary widely. While several companies may offer Medigap Plan F, for instance, they can all charge different premiums for it.
Shopping around could save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars per year. This year, you may also want to check out the new Medigap
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Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
When you become eligible for Medicare, all of the options you face can be very overwhelming and your time to decide is limited. If you have a pre-existing condition, it would be to your best advantage to sign up during this open enrollment. Why? During this period, you won't be asked any questions about your health. Insurance companies won't raise your rates, put exclusions on covering pre-existing conditions or decline to accept your application due to health problems.
When you're deciding
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Friday, October 28th, 2011
This year, we have seen an increase in coverage for Medicare beneficiaries after health care reform. Medicare beneficiaries can now enjoy 100 percent coverage for standard health care services, such as annual physical exams and screening procedures to catch disease. Yet, that hasn't resulted in fewer people using Medigap policies to supplement their Medicare coverage.
Last year, Medicare only covered 80 percent of any service from doctors. That was sometimes the reason why seniors and younger
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