Consumer Guide For Medigap Insurance

By Author: William Richards
Total Articles: 366
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Consumer guide is the buying guide; when we decide to purchase anything we need to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a service or about a product. Therefore consumer guide is an essential manual for purchase irrespective of the nature of commodity.

This law of comprehensiveness is appropriate for health insurance purchase also. In case of Medigap insurance plan purchase we need to have more comprehensive view about the plans because in Medigap insurance plans we have to select a plan out of all available plans which may work as perfect supplemental plan for the existing Medicare plan and in requirement can cover the entire medical expense accounts remain uncovered by original Medicare insurance plan.

Unless we have purchased a Medigap insurance policy, our Medicare insurance plan is not adequate to cover the expenses incurred by medical treatment processes like co-pays, deductibles, co-insurance etc.; in a nutshell there is more accounts lying which remains uncovered by Medicare insurance policies but can be covered by a supplemental insurance plan ...
... like the filler fills the gap; perhaps for this filling function these filler policies are called Medigap.

The best part of Medigap insurance plans is its rules and regulations. The rules are regulated by Federal laws and concerned state laws; however, the plans are marketed and sold by different Medicare supplemental insurance companies therefore a variation in premiums are often find in sold policy plans. Therefore it is always recommended to do compare Medicare Supplement Plans before purchasing a specific Medigap insurance plan from a service provider.

Another intricacy of Medigap insurance plans is their availability. Although there are all total 12 plans available in market for selection, the consumers cannot access all these plans together by default. The availability of these plans is different and may vary with the states. For example, the Medigap California plans are obviously different from Medigap Wisconsin plans.
However all policies under Medigap category needs to be mentioned clearly as Medigap Insurance plan and undertaking of any of this plan is not possible until the applicant has an existing medicare health insurance policy active.

For every individual separate Medigap insurance policy is required to enjoy the extra coverage benefits; the minimum age for availing Medigap insurance plan is 65 years. Below to 65 years of age, there are different eligibility criteria for disable and physically challenged person to avail the benefit of Medigap coverage however, this facility is best suggested by an expert insurance consultants.

If any Medigap policy holder get to enroll himself/herself in Medicare advantage plan, by default Medigap coverage ceases to exist further. In case a consumer selects another health insurance plan apart from original Medicare health insurance plan, the claim for Medigap coverage stands automatically nullified.

As per the latest amendments of Medigap policies are concerned, it is no more covers prescription drugs. However if a consumer possess a Medicare Plan D and Medigap plan D in accordance to the original medicare plan, the drug coverage will be by default removed from the coverage list.

It is feasible to keep prescription drug coverage benefit in Medigap insurance plan but not the both policy coverage. However, Medigap drug coverage is not as beneficial as Medicare Part D coverage benefits.

The Medicare supplemental plans, Medicare supplement insurance and Medicare supplement plans available here.