Medicare Supplement Plans
Medigap or Medical Supplement Plans help in filling the gaps in the Original Medicare. They are sold by private companies. Original Medicare offers help with a considerable part of the covered health care supplies and services, but not all of it.
A Medicare Supplement Plan (Medigap) can help the user to pay some of the remaining health care costs like:
- Copayments
- Coinsurance
- Deductibles
Some of Medigap’s policies also cover services like medical care facilities when a user travels outside the United States. This was not covered under the Original Medicare. In case you already have the Original Medicare and buy a Medicare supplement plan, here is what will happen:
- Medicare will offer its share of the payment that is initially approved by Medicare for covering healthcare costs.
- After this, Medigap policy offers its share of money to be paid.
What do Medigap Policies not Cover?
- Long term care
- Vision
- Dental care
- Hearing aids
- Eyeglasses
- Private duty nursing
Things to Know About Medigap Policies
- The user must have both Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B.
- A Medigap policy is not the same as a Medicare Advantage Plan. Medigap only supplements the original Medicare benefits.
- The user has to pay the private insurance company a fixed amount of money towards the premium for the Medigap Policy.
- A Medicare Supplement Plan covers only people. If you and your spouse are looking for these supplement plans, you should pay for 2 of them.
- You can purchase a Medigap policy from any insurance company that is licensed by the state you reside in.
- It is illegal for anybody to sell you a Medicare Supplement Plan if you already have a Medicare Advantage Plan in place. However, if you switch back to Original Medicare, it is legal in such a scenario.