The other day I had a meeting with a new couple looking to come off their employer insurance and go onto Medicare.
Going into the meeting, one of the two had the idea that they will just enroll into Original Medicare which is made up by Part A (Hospital) and Part B (Medical) without adding any supplemental insurance or without choosing a Medicare Advantage plan to take over their Medicare benefits.
Now that would all be fine for them to do, however I wasn’t quite convinced that they understood what that all meant to have Original Medicare and that’s it.
Here’s the deal.
Original Medicare is great because it gives its recipients the freedom of choice to go nationwide to any doctor, specialists, hospital or provider that is contracted with Medicare. No referrals needed, no network restrictions. That’s all good news!
However, Medicare does have some bad news!
And that bad news is the “gaps” in Medicare coverage.
What are the “gaps” in coverage?
Well here are the current “gaps” in the Original Medicare coverage as of 2019:
Part A Hospital Deductible: $1,364 (Days 1-60)
Part A Hospital C0-Pay: $341/day (Days 61-90)
Part A Hospital Co-Pay: $682/day (Days 91+)
Part A Skilled Nursing Co-Pay: $170.50/day (Days 21-100)
Part B Deductible: $185 annually
Part B Co-Insurance: 20% responsibility with NO CAP! I repeat, NO CAP!
If you haven’t figured it out yet, Original Medicare leaves you with quite a bit out-of-pocket which is okay if you never go to the doctors, however you have to remember, this is the health insurance that most people will have for the remainder of their lives.
Medicare Supplement/MediGap plans are the insurance policies offered by private insurance companies that can fill in most if not all of these “gaps” in coverage. They are very important for not only protecting one’s wealth and assets but most importantly one’s health.
Who do you think is going to be the one that hesitates going to see the doctor? The one that will have no out-of-pocket costs for doing so or the person who is responsible for every single one of the out-of-pocket costs I’ve listed above. Of course, the person with lots of out-pocket costs would be the one more likely to hesitate going to see their doctor.
In case you needed more reason, we had a client that had about $1 million in medical bills due to a lung transplant. Imagine being responsible for any portion of that type of medical bill!
MediGap insurance is important and usually at a very reasonable monthly premium.
Schedule a time to speak with us or call us now (800.464.4941) to get a quote for your Medicare Supplement insurance plan.
https://martinassociates.as.me/schedule.php
Thanks for reading!
