{"id":48,"date":"2008-10-21T21:37:25","date_gmt":"2008-10-21T21:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthnews.nchealthplans.com\/?p=48"},"modified":"2010-09-30T19:39:57","modified_gmt":"2010-10-01T00:39:57","slug":"medicare-supplement-policy-vs-medicare-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/2008\/10\/medicare-supplement-policy-vs-medicare-advantage\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicare Supplement Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0During many conversations with prospective and current senior clients, I am often asked a question about the differences between a Medicare Supplement Policy <\/a>and Medicare Advantage<\/a>.\u00a0 To answer that question, you first need to understand what Medicare<\/a> is and how it works.\u00a0\u00a0Generally speaking,\u00a0Medicare is health insurance for people age 65 or older or\u00a0under age 65 with certain disabilities.\u00a0 It can also be elected by an individual\u00a0at any age with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant).\u00a0 It helps cover some of the medical services and supplies during inpatient and outpatient hospital procedures, doctor’s visits, and other health care settings.\u00a0 Original Medicare has two parts:\u00a0 Medicare Part A <\/a>Hospital Insurance and Medicare Part B Medical Insurance<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>\u00a0Medicare Part A<\/a> is normally a premium-free benefit if you or your spouse paid Medicare taxes while employed.\u00a0 If you paid this tax, you are automatically enrolled in Medicare Part A.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0It helps cover inpatient hosptial care, inpatient stays in skilled nursing facilities, hospice services, and home health care services.\u00a0 Medicare Part B helps cover medical services\u00a0such as doctor’s visits, preventive care, outpatient surgeries, and other medical services.\u00a0 Unlike Medicare Part A<\/a>, there is a monthly premium for Medicare Part B<\/a>, which happens to be $96.40 for\u00a02009.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A Medicare Supplement policy<\/a>, also referred to as a “Medigap<\/a>” policy,\u00a0is private health insurance that can be purchased by eligible individuals on Original Medicare (Part A and B)\u00a0to help cover some of the\u00a0gaps\u00a0that the Original Medicare<\/a> plan does not cover, such as coinsurance and deductibles.\u00a0\u00a0Without a supplement, costs for the portions that Medicare does not pay can be in the thousands of dollars!\u00a0 Both Original Medicare<\/a> and the supplement policy<\/a> will pay their share of the Medicare-approved amount for covered services, thus cutting the insured member’s out-of-pocket costs.\u00a0 Supplement policies are sold by private health insurance companies, like Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina.<\/a>\u00a0 To purchase a supplement policy, an individual must be enrolled in Medicare Part A\u00a0<\/a>and Medicare Part B<\/a>.\u00a0 A Medicare Advantage Plan<\/a> is another way to get Medicare benefits<\/a>.\u00a0 It is also known as Medicare Part C<\/a>.\u00a0 These are plans approved by Medicare, but administrated by private health insurance companies, like Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina.\u00a0 Unlike a supplement policy, an individual does not purchase a Medicare Advantage Plan<\/a> to supplement their Original Medicare<\/a>.\u00a0 In contrast, the individual enrolls in a Medicare Advantage Plan<\/a> which takes the place of their Original Medicare Plan<\/a>.\u00a0 Benefits under these plans are\u00a0often “richer” than Original Medicare as well.\u00a0 They\u00a0usually include prescription drug benefits built right into the plan.\u00a0 Some plans are premium-free depending on their benefits, but individuals can also purchase extra benefits as well.\u00a0 Regardless if they are premium-free, an individual will always continue to pay their Medicare Part B <\/a>premium.\u00a0 Plans include, but are not limited to,\u00a0Medicare<\/a> PPO’s, HMO’s, and Private Fee-for-Service Plans (PFFS).\u00a0 So, in summary, a supplement plan does just what the name implies – it “supplements” what the Original Medicare Plan<\/a> does not cover.\u00a0 A Medicare Advantage Plan<\/a> takes the place of Original Medicare, often with richer coverage.\u00a0 For more information on these policies, please call\u00a0 toll free at 877-359-9250 or CLICK HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0During many conversations with prospective and current senior clients, I am often asked a question about the differences between a Medicare Supplement Policy and Medicare Advantage.\u00a0 To answer that question, you first need to understand what Medicare is and how it works.\u00a0\u00a0Generally speaking,\u00a0Medicare is health insurance for people age 65 or older or\u00a0under age 65 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[23,136,17,16],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-medicare-supplement-coverage","tag-bcbsnc","tag-blue-cross-blue-shield-of-north-carolina","tag-medicare-advantage","tag-medicare-supplement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7836,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions\/7836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}