Is It Better to Have Medicare Advantage or Medigap?
Compare Medical Benefits
Medigap and Medicare Advantage can seem kind of similar. The two were both designed by Medicare to be able to cover essential, common medical expenses and to help out seniors who are not getting adequate coverage from their Medicare plan. Is it better to have Medicare Advantage or Medigap? We are going to tell you all about these two kinds of healthcare insurance plans, and then you will be able to make a determination for yourself after you are done reading all the details.
You can use our site as a way to compare prices between these plans. Medigap plans and Medicare Advantage plans offer some great benefits, but the pricing on them may tell you whether they are right for you or not. Feel free to use our site and the price comparison tool here as often as you like to find the best deals and to ensure that you have the right health insurance plan.
Medicare Supplement Plans
What are Medicare Supplements? This is another name for Medigap plans, and these are health insurance policies that cover all sorts of medical costs related to Medicare but not covered by Medicare. So, you can use a Medicare Supplement to work with your Medicare plan to give you great coverage and more complete medical benefits. These two plans make great companions, and many seniors use both of them when they want peace of mind about their medical care and the costs associated with it.
A lot of the coverage that Medicare Supplements provide is simply designed to fill in the gaps created by Original Medicare. For example, Medicare will pay for many Part A hospital services. Your inpatient care expenses are mostly covered under Medicare’s benefits, but copays are required from you each time you visit the hospital. These may often be small expenses, but they can add up with multiple hospital visits. Medicare Supplements help to cover those for you, giving you more time covered in the hospital and taking care of more of your inpatient expenses.
Medicare Supplements can also cover you for excess charges when you go outside of Medicare’s network area for outpatient care. They can take care of leftover blood costs and help you out with hospice expenses.
There are 10 Supplement plans in all, and these cover a range of medical expenses for you, but they all get their coverage from the same list. They all have guaranteed coverage as well, which means that you get the same benefits regardless of where you buy your plan from and what price you pay for the plan. If you opt for Medicare Supplement Plan G, then you always get the same benefits for that plan at every insurance company. The companies that sell these plans cannot alter the coverage in any way. They have to abide by Medicare’s rules for medical benefits on each plan.
Medicare Supplement Plans 2021 enter your zip code below
Medigap Plans – Which are Best?
While Medicare crafted 10 different Medicare Supplement plans, most insurance companies only sell a few of them at any given time. We are going to focus on three of the most popular ones, all of which are high coverage plans and ideal for people who need lots of additional coverage to go with their Original Medicare plan.
Plan F
Plan F is the one Supplement plan with the most benefits. It covers you for all copayments and all deductibles that are associated with Medicare parts A and B. It also covers the coinsurance for hospice care and the coinsurance for nursing care. Plan F will cover the cost of foreign travel exchange (or transport out of the country in a medical emergency) for up to 80%, with $50,000 in coverage over your lifetime. It also covers you for any remaining blood used during the year and for Medicare Part B excess charges when you go out of network for your care.
Plan G
Plan G covers you a bit less but also costs less, so it can be a good deal. This health insurance plan is great for seniors who want lots of coverage at a very affordable price, and it is currently the most popular of the Medigap plans. Under Plan G, you get benefits that take care of the cost of nursing care, hospice care, all of your copayments, the Medicare Part A deductible, Part B excess charges, foreign travel exchange and blood used for the year. Check out the rates on Plan G right here on our site and see how affordable it is. This is a plan that every insurance company sells who is offering Medigap plans, so it isn’t hard to find.
Plan N
You should also know about Medicare Supplement Plan N. This Medigap policy is high coverage but affordably priced. Under Plan N, you would be covered for all the Part A expenses, like the copayment, deductible and coinsurance for hospice care. You also get some coverage for Medicare Part B copayments. In addition, Plan N will cover the cost of blood you use, foreign travel exchange and nursing care. When you look at the coverage differences between these plans, you won’t see much that Plan N does not cover that the other plans do. However, Plan N can be very affordable and very high value due to its often low cost. Not every insurance company offers Plan N, though, so you may need to do some looking around, and our site offers you an easy way to do that.
Medicare Supplement Plans Comparison Chart 2021
We have included a comparison chart of Medicare Supplement plans. You can use this as a way to tell the differences among these plans. You’ll want to look carefully at those differences because once you sign up for a Medicare Supplement, it can be tough to change it later on. You will want to ensure you are getting the best plan for your needs at the moment. You may want to change your plan next year, but make sure that you choose a Medicare Supplement that will cover you well for the full year ahead. That is how long their terms last for.
Medicare Supplements offer a wide range of coverage including low and high coverage options. You can compare these easily using this comparison chart, and you can also use our site to compare quotes on these plans. Just search for quotes for any kind of healthcare plan you like and get results back in a few moment that are local to your area. Start with the coverage details provided in this chart and then compare the prices to find the best deals on plans that will matter to you and that will help you save money on healthcare for the coming year.
Medicare Supplement Plans 2021 enter your zip code below
Medicare Advantage
that can be used to replace Original Medicare. They will cover you for all sorts of medical expenses, similarly to Medicare Supplements but for some different benefits. There is some slight overlap between these two types of plans, however, so they are not compatible with one another. That means that you cannot be enrolled in both of them at the same time. Is it better to have Medicare Advantage or Medigap? You can judge that better once you read some of the details we have for you about Advantage plans.
Advantage plans are very different from Supplement plans in their benefits. Instead of working alongside Original Medicare to provide complementary coverage, they basically replace Medicare and then add coverage on top of that. They can cover you for the following medical expenses:
Emergency medical services
Urgently needed care
All Medicare Part B services
All Medicare Part A services (minus the hospice care)
Prescription drugs using the Medicare Part D plan
Checkups with your dentist, optometrist, general practitioner and audiologist
Prescription eyeglasses and hearing aids
You can pick from a variety of Medicare Advantage plans to find the coverage you need, and most people only enroll in Advantage plans since they offer so much coverage.
One of the big ways that Medicare Advantage plans and Medigap plans differ is in their network coverage. Medigap plans can give you full coverage so long as you go to a medical facility that accepts Medicare. Advantage plans will only give you full coverage if you stay within your insurance company’s network area. Now, you can choose from different network options for your Advantage plans to help with the coverage for off-network care or whatever you need to ensue you stay covered.
The HMO is the most basic and cheapest kind of network option for Medicare Advantage plans. It covers you only within the network and then nowhere else. You can also try a PPO network option. This will cover you on the network and then provide you with partial coverage for outside the network.
You may want a different kind of network option or you may be eligible for a different one depending on your health status. Special needs patients get some additional options, and some insurers offer other kinds of network choices for you to pick from. Be sure to use our site to compare your different choices and how much they all cost.
Medicare Part C – Types of Plans
Which types of Medicare Advantage plan can you pick from? There are a few different kinds, and we want you to know what your options are.
The basic plan comes with only the essential coverage. Insurance companies may call it a variety of names, but it will always cover you for emergency care, urgently needed care, Part A services and Part B services.
You can upgrade from that with a Medicare Part D Advantage plan. This includes all the basic coverage we told you about just now and a full Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. This is the most common type of Advantage plan available.
Some Advantage plans include the basic benefits as well as checkup coverage, taking care of visits to the dentist, optometrist and more. These vary in their coverage, though, with some plans covering you for just routine checkups and other covering addition expenses, like extractions or bridgework from your dentist.
Medicare Advantage Plans
If you are looking for a Medicare Advantage plan to meet your needs, you will want to pay some attention to the insurance company that sells you the plan. They have their own perks that you can take advantage of to get more value from your plan. Here are a few of the top Advantage plans and their insurers that you should consider as you look for the right one:
Humana
This insurer offers a great selection of Advantage plans to pick from. They have low prices, great customer service and some excellent perks that make it easy to stay fit and stay healthy.
Aetna
We like Aetna for their very competitive prices. They have consistently low rates, and they take good care of their customers with some nice perks, such as the Silver Sneakers program that gives you access to gyms across the country.
AARP
AARP has been in the senior business for a long time. They will provide you with a wealth of perks at an affordable price. Their network stretches across most of the country, so it’s not hard to find AARP-approved hospitals and other healthcare providers no matter where you live. Their large network makes it easy to find affordable care and not need to enroll in one of the more expensive network options.
Once you look at Medicare Advantage and Medigap, you may see how they cover you in different ways and you may have some idea now about which one will be right for you. We urge you to take some time to compare prices, compare benefits and compare the ways in which these plans cover you and minimize your medical expenses. We think you will be able to find a plan that is a good fit for you.
Is it better to have Medicare Advantage or Medigap? This is a question you will have to answer for yourself based on your needs at the time and your financial situation. You can check out the prices here and see how much these cost, but they are both affordably priced most of the time. If you need help and you have some questions to ask, please contact us and allow us to assist you.
