The “Medsupp”

The Medicare Supplement, if you’re willing to pay the premium, offers clients complete freedom to go to any doctor in the country that accepts Medicare and predictable copayments.

Medicare, being the most popular insurance in the country, has a lot of leverage in negotiating rates with medical providers. Because of this, 93% of doctors in the U.S. accept Medicare. Moreover, Medicare also standardizes the medical service prices so that for each service, there is a “Medicare allowable rate (MAR).” Some doctors, as mentioned, do not accept the Medicare allowable rate, and apply “excess charges” of up to 15% higher than the MAR.

Choosing between a Medicare supplement can be hard because there are are so many options and you never know how much insurance you’ll need. If you are confident that you will not need to use your medical insurance much in a given year, maybe a plan K or plan A would be best for your needs. If you know you will obtaining expensive services, or just want to be prepared for the worst, plans N, plan C, or the most comprehensive plan G may be your solution.

Once I have a basic understanding of a clients needs and preferences, I browse the prices of the main supplement plans. In New York, the 3 major companies that offer supplements are AARP by United Healthcare, Humana, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Once a plan is decided on, I always recommend the plan from the company that offers the lowest premium because they are standardized (i.e. a Plan G from Humana is the exact same product as Plan G from AARP).

With Medicare as a primary insurance covering 80% of costs, and a Medicare supplement helping to cover the remainder, all that is left to cover all of the “bases” in Medicare is a Part D, drug coverage. Many insurance companies offer stand alone drug plans for a monthly premium, and you can read more about those in the next article.