Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans – What You Should Know About Them
Medicare Part D and Medigap both offer prescription coverage and are intending to provide health insurance to senior citizens. Medicare Part D is the Medicare prescription drug plan and Medicare Part A is the Medicare supplemental plan N. Both are mandatory monthly expenses for seniors that must be taken under the provisions of the United States Government.
Although Medicare does offer cheaper prescription drugs than private insurance plans, most seniors still do not have access to these plans and must rely on Medicare for their health insurance. Because of this, many seniors do not feel comfortable with the thought of Medicare spending for prescription drugs and often wonder if the government is stealing from them. This is a valid concern, as many seniors are very frustrated with their current health situation.
The simple answer to this question is that you don’t owe the government any money and they are not stealing your money. Medicare supplement insurance plans are not “stealing” money from you as they are designed to keep seniors well-covered throughout their lifetime.
As long as you pay the premiums every month, Medicare will take care of your Medicare needs. As with most things in our society, there are good companies and there are bad companies, and Medigap plans fall somewhere in between. Since Medicare automatically routes most non-prescription claims to its in-house pharmacies, that is where most of the fraudulent billing occurs.
The solution to this problem is an American private managed care company that sells Medicare supplement insurance plans, Medicare Advantage Plans, and other traditional direct health care insurance services and products such as medical pharmaceuticals, behavioral health, long-term care, hospice care, and home health care.
These companies provide all of the Medicare benefits with no additional costs from you, yet you never have to pay a premium ever again for coverage. To qualify for one of these plans, you must be over the age of 65, have been a Medicare recipient for at least five years, and have a taxable income. I guess to save 30 today you have to spend some money!
This is one of the best ways to save on the rising costs of Medicare and Medigap supplement’s insurance plans. The Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan allows seniors to use what is known as “fee for service” or “paper claims” to make sure that every penny that they spent on their Medicare is spent effectively.
Every individual member of Medicare’s family is entitled to one free Medicare supplement insurance plan and a fixed annual deductible, regardless of their income or health status. While they can choose the physician and hospital that they prefer and can even decide whether or not to take advantage of the benefits available to “net losers” or those who have already exhausted their guaranteed issue before, these plans cannot and do not substitute for Medicare.
However, it does allow many seniors to dramatically reduce or even end up eliminating their current health insurance plans designed for senior citizens. With Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans there are a wide variety of options available to seniors, and to anyone, individually based on their specific circumstances.
Some of these options are as simple as increasing the amount that the provider pays for each doctor visit up to a maximum of two at a time, increasing the maximum out-of-pocket expense for hospital stays from $1,000 to a maximum of five, decreasing the maximum allowable number of adult children from two to one, or increasing the amount that Medicare pays per month for certain medical procedures and treatments. There are a large number of additional benefits that are available to those with Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans.
These same benefits are available under Medicare Part D and other long-term care insurance plans. One benefit that is especially appealing to seniors who are also Medicare beneficiaries is the ability to use their Medigap plans to pay for their prescription medications.
In addition, several other benefits come as part of the Medicare supplements plans including the reduction or elimination of premiums for certain drugs, the addition of annual deductibles to be paid annually, the option to pay premiums monthly or annually, and the option to pay for the entire policy once the policy has been purchased through an accredited agent. All of these additional benefits can help to make Medicare supplement plans more affordable and simpler for seniors to manage.