Medicare Supplement Plans have significant benefits when it comes to your healthcare payments.
Medicare Supplement Overview
Medicare is an 80/20 policy, meaning it saves you 80% of the costs, but you have to cover 20%. Medicare Supplement Plans help with paying the costs left up to you. There are ten types of Medicare Supplements, each offering their own degree of coverage. The ten plans are A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N.
Medicare Supplements do not cover every cost though. Plans cover certain expenses for Medicare Parts and other types of services.
For Medicare Part A, a Supplement Plan can cover:
- Coinsurance plus hospital costs
- Hospice coinsurance (or copayment)
- Skilled Nursing Facility coinsurance (or copayment)
- Deductible
For Part B, a Supplement Plan can cover:
- Coinsurance (or copayment)
- Deductible
- Excess charges
It can also cover:
- First three pints of blood
- Emergency travel (if in a foreign country)
Enrolling
To enroll in Medicare Supplement Plans, you cannot be enrolled in Medicare Advantage or a Medicare Part D plan at the same time. You can only join a Medicare Supplement Plan if you have Medicare Part A and Part B.
The Medicare Supplement Open Enrollment lasts six months. There are two ways the enrollment period starts:
- The first day of the month you turn 65 and are enrolled in Part B
- If you’re over 65, but waited to get Part B because of your or your spouse’s employer health insurance, then the six-month enrollment period begins when you get Part B
You may not be able to get a Medicare Supplement policy if you miss the Medicare Supplement Open Enrollment Period.
Switching from Medicare Advantage
You can’t get a Medicare Supplement Plan if you have Medicare Advantage. But there is an opportunity to switch. When you join Medicare Advantage for the first time, you have a 12 month window where you can switch over to Original Medicare and purchase a Medicare Supplement policy.
Switching from Medicare SELECT
Medicare SELECT is a type of Medicare Supplement Plan available within certain states. If you get Medicare SELECT, you have a 12 month period where you can switch to a traditional Medicare Supplement Plan if you change your mind.
Re-Enrolling
If you had a Medicare Supplement Plan at one time but then disenrolled, you can re-enroll. You can rejoin the policy you had before, but if it’s not available, you can get a different policy from your insurer.
Enroll in a Medigap Plan Through Us!
At Cornerstone Senior Advisors, we search through every avenue to help you find a satisfactory and cost-effective plan, be it a Medicare Supplement or anything else. There’s no limit on what we will do. Call us at 316-260-3331 and we will find the best Medicare Supplement policy available to you.