Throughout most of the United States, there are 10 standardized Medicare supplement plans available to purchase. These plans help to cover some of the health care costs that Original Medicare does not cover, such as copayments, deductibles, and coinsurance fees. These supplemental programs are provided by private companies.

When choosing a Medicare supplement plan, you want to make sure you are getting the most well rounded, affordable plan that will also provide you with all the coverage you require. These plans are added onto your Medicare plan.

What is Medicare?

Medicare is a federal health insurance program for specific individuals who meet the following criteria: those who are over 65, certain younger people with disabilities, and those with end stage renal disease.

Medicare is broken up into four different categories:

• Medicare Plan A – hospital insurance that covers inpatient hospital stays, care in a skilled nursing facility, hospice care, and some forms of home health care.
• Medicare Plan B – medical insurance that covers medical supplies, certain doctors’ services, outpatient care, and preventative services.
• Medicare Plan C – the Medicare Advantage Plan is a health plan from a private company that has an agreement with Medicare to provide all the Part A and Part B benefits, along with special needs plans, preferred provider organizations, health maintenance organizations, and more.
• Medicare Plan D – this insurance adds prescription drug coverage to your original Medicare, some Medicare cost plans and Medicare medical savings account plans.

Comparing supplemental coverage plans is all about understanding what coverage you have and what coverage you need.  To help you, we’ve compared the top three most popular Supplemental Medicare plans available today.

Supplemental Medicare Plan Comparison

In the United States, there are a total of 10 different Medicare Supplemental Plans. They are lettered, and include the following: A, B, C, D, F, J, K, L, and N.

Plan A consists of the core policy benefits that are included in every supplemental plan. From there, each plan has additional benefits they offer. Each plan is unique in its coverage, so it’s important to fully understand each plan and what they offer before making a choice. Online, you can find simplified comparison charts that show you the basic outline of differences between all 10 plans.

The top three supplemental Medicare plans are plans N, G, and F.

Plan N 

Plan N is considered one of the best plans due to its relatively low premiums and it’s good coverage and benefits. Plan N includes Part A hospital coinsurance and hospital costs for up to a year (365 days) after your original Medicare benefits run out. It also includes Part A hospice care coinsurance, Part A deductibles, Part B coinsurance costs (barring office and ER visits), Part B preventative care coinsurance, the first three pints of blood used in a medical procedure, and any SNF coinsurance.

Plan N does require the patient to pay a relatively small deductible for visits to the physician and to the emergency room, but by doing this is helps keep premiums low.  Also, if the ER visit results in you needing to be admitted in inpatient care at the hospital, there won’t be any co-payment required. Plan N also covers Medicare Part A hospitalization deductibles, which can cost upwards of $1,300 per patient, per year.

Plan N does cover Home Healthcare, but the coverage won’t start until your Medicare Part B deductible is met.

Plan N will also cover 80% of any emergency care needed within the first 60 days of foreign travel.

Plan G

Plan G and Plan F are the only Medicare Supplemental Plans are the only supplemental plans that will cover Medicare Part B excess charges. These charges are the difference between what a doctor charges and what Medicare will pay. Either of these plans will help protect you from having to pay more out-of-pocket expenses for treatment you may need that goes beyond what Medicare will approve. Your doctor is legally allowed to charge up to 15% beyond what Medicare will approve.

Like Plan N, Plan F covers your Medicare Part A deductible, SNF coinsurance, foreign travel emergency care (up to 60 days). Plan G also covers the first three pints of blood, Part A coinsurance on hospice care and will also pay Part A coinsurance plus coverage for a full year (365 days) after Medicare benefits end.

Plan N does not cover the Part B deductible, which is $183 a year, but it has been shown to have lower rates increases from year to year over other plans, making it more affordable both short and long term.

Plan F

Plan F is one of the most popular and comprehensive plans available to add onto your Original Medicare. Unfortunately, it is often more expensive than the other options as well.

Like Plan G, Plan F covers the difference between what your provider will charge and what Medicare will pay, known as Medicare Part B excess charges. With this plan, you may end up not having to pay any out-of-pocket costs associated with hospital and doctor’s office care.

Plan F covers basic Medicare benefits, such as:

• Part A coinsurance plus coverage for an additional full year (365 additional days) after Medicare benefits have ended.
• Part B coinsurance –about 20% of Medicare-approved expenses — or copayments for hospital outpatient services
• The first three pints of blood each year
• Part A coinsurance

On top of the basic benefits, Plan F will also give you coverage for care at a skilled nursing facility, Medicare Part A deductibles for hospitalizations, Medicare Part B deductibles for outpatient and medical expenses, and emergency help when travelling abroad.

Plan F has minimal out of pocket costs and will also cover the coinsurance costs related to days 61-90 of a hospital stay. This is important since 20% of elderly patients often end up back in the hospital after being discharged. Once you are in the hospital for longer than 90 days, Plan F will extend your hospital coverage for another 365 days.

Plan F is also available in a high deductible version. This means that you would pay for all Medicare-covered costs until your deductible reached $2,240 before your Plan F coverage would kick in. This is an option offered to keep premiums low.

What are the costs associated with supplemental Medicare plans?

Medicare Supplement plans are provided by private companies and not by the state, this means that their prices will vary and will be based off many determining factors. Some of the most common determining factors include your age, location, and sex.

No matter who you purchase your plan from, the plan will stay the same and the coverage will remain the same. The private provider is not permitted to alter the plans, only to decide what they will charge for them. For this reason, it’s important to get a variety of quotes from a site like www.gomedigap.com to make sure you’re getting the best deal.

Core Policy Benefits

The core policy benefits are the benefits included in every plan, from here, each plan then offers it’s own unique coverage options. These core options do not demonstrate all the benefits available to the plans, since plans B to N has different coverage. The price of these plans will also vary based on the additional coverage they provide. This allows you to purchase a Medicare Supplemental Plan that will provide you with peace of mind without costing you and obscene amount.

Here are the 2018 core policy benefits:

• If you are hospitalized, Original Medicare restricts the amount of days that they will cover. All letter plans under Medicare Supplemental Plans will add coverage for an additional 365 days after you have used up your Original Medicare benefits.
• If you require blood transfusions or blood for medical reasons, you will be responsible for paying for blood required up to three pints, after which your letter plan will pay for the rest.
• Under Medicare Part B, you will have to pay out of pocket costs for coinsurance and co-payments. Any letter plan will cover these costs.
• If you require hospice care, Medicare Part A restricts what coverage you will be permitted to have for inpatient respite care and outpatient drugs. Original Medicare will not cover these expenses, but every lettered supplemental plan will.
• Sometimes you may require additional testing that will not be covered under your Medicare Part B preventative services coverage, which will leave you responsible for the 20% coinsurance. Medicare Supplemental Plans will provide you coverage that will cover these coinsurance costs.

Final Notes

Medicare, Medicare Supplemental Plans, and health insurance in general can be a jargon heavy, legal maze that the average consumer may feel completely unprepared to navigate. Finding a supplemental provider that will give you clear, concise information that allows you to make the clearest and most educated decision is incredibly important. Remember that premiums aren’t everything and going for the cheapest plan may mean you end up without valuable coverage that will leave you struggling financially after the fact.