During my free online workshop, Terry asked me a really good question. He asked, “what is the advantage of Medicare supplement plans?”
This is an excellent question because if you don’t know the benefit of these plans when you enter Medicare, you can have an absolute mess on your hands later on.
So let’s just quickly go through what these plans are and their advantage so that you know precisely how to choose which one makes sense for you.
First, Medicare supplement plans are also called Medigap plans. And you have these plans when you decide to go on the traditional or the Original Medicare route.
As a refresher, there are two Medicare programs to pick from. There’s traditional Medicare where you can see any doctor across the entire country who accepts traditional Medicare, and on the other hand, you have Medicare Advantage.
Medicare supplement plans are only for people who are on the original or traditional Medicare route.
There are two main parts on the Original Medicare route: Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B. While Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B cover most of your health care, they don’t cover 100 percent of it.
Medicare Part B, which covers most of your medical expenses, only covers 80 percent of approved expenses.
With that said, the advantage of Medicare supplement plans is that they cover the other 20 percent of the costs not covered by Medicare.
For example, if you have cancer and have $100,000 of medical bills, you’re paying $20,000 of those bills on Medicare. However, if you have a Medicare supplement plan, this is where it comes into play. Your supplement plan will pay that $20,000 that Medicare does not cover.
So, by having a supplement plan, you are limiting your risk and protecting your savings.
Now, it’s essential to get the right Medicare supplement plan when you first join Medicare. There are insurability rules in most states when you first join Medicare, and you can join any of these plans that you want, but after that six-month window, companies will ask you for your health history for the ever accept you.
It’s so important to get this plan right when you first join Medicare because most of us never know when we’re going to get sick. And most people don’t like to change their plans until they’re sick. And in most states, once you’re sick, it’s too late to change plans.
To easily make the right Medicare decision the first time, you can CLICK HERE to sign up for our Medicare Enrollment Concierge.
