Medicare supplement insurance is a highly recommended purchase for most seniors but some of the details surrounding it are confusing. If you are acting on the basis of incorrect information it could hurt you down the road, so be armed with the most important things you need to know about it before you make a purchase.
Insurance plans like these also go by the name Medigap because they aim to take care of the things Medicare does not cover. Hence, they bridge the gaps. You will pay an additional amount to get this type of policy on top of your Medicare premiums. Also, you must first have Medicare Parts A & B before you can purchase a supplemental policy.
Keep in mind that your Medigap policy does not cover your spouse. If you both need coverage, you will have to buy two separate policies. This confuses some people because traditional insurance often does cover spouses.
Government regulations have made the twelve plans offered as Medicare gap coverage standardized. What this means is that while there is a choice between 12 different plans, the plan you choose will be the same no matter which company you buy it from. Any company that tells you their plan A offers more benefits than their competitor's plan A is lying.
It pays to check with a lot of different companies before committing to any individual plan. This is because not all companies carry all 12 plans, so an insurance agent may be steering his or her customers towards one of the plans that company offers when a different plan might be preferable for you.
You may not realize it but current law states that anyone can get prescription plan coverage through Medicare. This was not always true in the past, but because it is now, you cannot get prescription coverage from Medigap because there is not a gap. If you do not have prescription coverage through Medicare their website will tell you what you need to do to fix this problem.
Also, beware of anyone who tries to sell you additional Medicare supplement insurance if you already have this type of policy in place. US law states that it is an offense to try to sell additional policies of this type, as the plans offer a wide range of benefit options and as long as you choose the right plan, a second plan would be totally unnecessary.
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