When people talk about Medicare Plan G, they are referring to the Medicare Supplement Plan G. It can also be called a Medigap Plan G. Plan G is on its way to becoming the most popular Supplement Plan.

2020, is the first year that people newly aging into Medicare cannot choose a supplement that covers the Medicare Part B Deductible. This included Plans F and Plan C. However, people who have already turned 65 before January 1, 2020 can still choose a plan F or C at any point going forward. They are considered “grandfathered in.”

Although, people age 65 before January 1, 2020 can still choose a Plan F or Plan C, it doesn’t mean that they should. These plans may get more expensive at a faster rate since they cannot enroll younger beneficiaries into them going forward. It makes sense then for everyone to learn about Plan G and all the other plans that are still available to everyone in Medicare.

What Does Medicare Plan G Cover?

Medicare Plan G is a Medigap Plan. This means it picks up the charges and fees that original Medicare does not cover.

Here is a list of the charges and fees that Plan G 100% covers, where Original Medicare leaves off:

• Part A Coinsurance
• Medicare Part A Deductible
• All Part B Co-payments and Coinsurance
• Medicare Part B Excess Charges
• The First 3 Pints of Blood
• Foreign Travel Emergencies (up to plan limit)
• Hospice Care Coinsurance
• Skilled Nursing Facilities Coinsurance

What Does Medicare Plan G Not Cover?

• What Plan G does not cover is the Medicare Part B Deductible. As of 2020, no one aging into Medicare on or after January 1, 2020, can apply for a supplement that covers the Part B Deductible.

Why? Well, the U.S. Legistlature passed a bill called the MACRA bill, or “The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015”, that said so. It is a small attempt to keep Medicare costs lower for tax payers and assure our system is sustainable for future generations. Will it be enough? Who knows, that is beyond this article.

Plan G vs Plan F

The only difference in coverage between Medigap Plan F vs Plan G is the Part B Deductible. (Click here to learn more about 2020 Fees and Changes to Medicare Part B.)

Plan F and Plan G both have the most extensive coverage out of all the Medigap Plans. They cover 100% of the costs that Medicare leaves behind (minus the Part B Deductible for Plan G).

Even though this is the only difference between these two plans, Plan G’s will often be much less expensive to buy than Plan F’s – even after you take the Part B Deductible into consideration.

Why? The reason for this is mostly due to the fact that Plan G’s can enroll newer, younger (and hopefully, healthier) Medicare Beneficiaries into their plans. In contrast, Plan F’s will now have a shrinking pool of people to choose from as people age.

Plan F’s are not going away, as many millions of Medicare Beneficiaries still have them, but they may have steeper price increases each year – relative to other plans.

Conclusions and Actions

In summary, Medicare Plan G is a good replacement for Plan F, and offers the most comprehensive Medicare coverage available to people just now aging into Medicare.

Remember, Plan F is only available to people who already turned 65 before January 1, 2020. However, people in Plan F might benefit from seeing if they can get Medically underwritten into a Plan G as its premiums might be cheaper. In addition, Plan G’s premiums will most likely raise at a slower pace than Plan F’s as G can enroll new people.

The post What is Medicare Plan G? appeared first on Medicare Life Health.

Medicare Part B Excess Charges are important to understand when you are deciding what Medigap Plan (Medicare Supplement) to get.

Every once-in-a-while, we hear from a client that is confused about a doctor’s bill. They are confused that there is a fee they need to pay that Medicare didn’t cover that they thought was covered by Medicare. Moreover, they have a supplement, that they believe should have also picked up the rest of the cost.

Often times, this fee turns out to be an “excess charge.” Let’s see what this means.

Excess Charges in Medicare Defined

Excess Charges are amounts of money charged by doctors or other healthcare providers above what Medicare has stated it will pay for a specific service. In other words, the amount of money charged above the Medicare approved amount is the excess charge.

Basically, your doctor or healthcare provider is more expensive for a particular service than the Medicare approved reimbursement. If this is the case, you either have to pay the excess fee out-of-pocket, or you might have the fee picked up by your Medigap (aka Supplement) plan.

Medicare Supplements and Excess Charges

Beneficiaries of the Medicare Healthcare System use Medicare Supplements to pick up the costs that Original Medicare does not pay. (Medicare picks up 80% and beneficiaries pick up 20%, unless they have a supplement or a Medicare Advantage Plan.) These costs include co-payments, co-insurance and deductibles. Medicare

Supplements pay some or all of these extra costs, depending on what plan you get.

What Medigap Plans Cover Excess Charges?

Plan F and Plan G Cover Excess Charges.

• If you have aged into Medicare before 2020, you can pick either Plan F or Plan G. The only difference between Plan F vs Plan G, is G does not cover the Medicare Part B Deductible.
• If you age into Medicare after 2020 (i.e. your 65th birthday is on or after January 1, 2020) then you cannot get Plan F. Plan G would then be your only option for a plan that covers Part B excess charges.
• To read more about why this birthday cut off exists, please read this article.

All other plans do not cover excess charges. If you have any of the other Medicare Supplement (Medigap) Plans, you will be responsible for paying excess charges.

Is My Service or Procedure Covered by Medicare?

If you are trying to figure out if your needed service or procedure is part of Medicare’s covered services, and/or how much is covered, then start with the Medicare.gov web-page here.

Medicare Advantage & Excess Charges

If you have a “Part C” Medicare Advantage (MA / MAPD) Plan, then excess charges do not apply to you. Medicare Advantage Plans basically replace Original Medicare and cover all of the services they are required to, plus many have additional coverage and benefits.

Your specific Medicare Advantage plan costs will be outlined by your private insurance company. So, you will know exactly what is covered and what costs you are responsible for according to your plan. In addition, your plan may have a network of doctors that have negotiated rates with your plan, so excess charges may not even be relevant to your MA set-up.

Further Reading:

• Medicare Supplements vs Medicare Advantage

• How to Choose a Medicare Plan

• How to Apply for Medicare

• What is Medicare Plan F?

• What Medicare Part B Covers & Costs

• 5 Biggest Medicare Mistakes

The post What are Part B Excess Charges? appeared first on Medicare Life Health.

You may have heard, but there have been changes with who can get what Medicare Supplement Plans (aka Medigap Plans) now. Plan F and Plan C are not available to people turning 65 on or after 2020. So, you might be wondering, what is Medicare Plan F?

In this quick article, let’s look at what are Medicare Supplements and then specifically, what is Medicare Supplement Plan F.

Medicare Supplement Plans Explained

Medicare Supplement plans are supplemental policies that people can purchase to cover the costs that Original Medicare does not pick up.

There are many different plans to choose from, and they are all labeled with a Plan Letter. In addition, there are many different insurance companies that offer these plans, but they all over the exact same services as what is listed in the letter plan benefits. The only difference from private insurance company to company is the price they can offer in each specific market (area of the country).

Here is a Chart of What Supplement Letter Covers What Services

Why People Like Supplements (Medigap)

People like Medicare Supplement Plans because of their flexibility and their routine costs. First, these plans offer flexibility because they allow beneficiaries to see any providers that accept Medicare in the whole country. Second, Medigap Plans have the same premium charged each month, and plans like F, have no costs other than that for covered services. As a result, Medigap Plans are good for budgeting and knowing what your costs are going to be each month.

Remember, the other option for supplementing Original Medicare covered services is a Medicare Advantage Plan. That is a plan you have INSTEAD OF a supplement (Medigap) plan.

• To start, you can read more about Medicare Advantage Plans here.
• Then, you can read more about Medigap vs Medicare Advantage.
• Or, you can read how to choose the right plan for you, here.

Who is Eligible for a Supplement?

Anyone with Medicare Benefits can apply for a supplement. When you first age into Medicare, you have a window of “Guaranteed Enrollment Eligibility” to get the supplement of your choosing. After that, you will either need a special enrollment option to get into another one, or go through medical underwriting to get a supplement.

You can read more about Medicare Supplements here.

Medicare Supplement Plan F Explained

Medigap Plan F (aka Medicare Supplement Plan F) covers the most amount of services out of all the supplemental plans. So, this means if you have Plan F, you pay your monthly plan premium for the supplement, and then you pay no other costs for Medicare covered services.

For example, Medicare Supplement Plan F is one of only two Medigap plans that covers Part B Excess Charges (read more about this here.)

As a result, it has been one of the most popular plans. If you take a look at the Medigap Plan chart above, you will see that…

Plan F Covers:

• Part A coinsurance and hospital costs up to an additional 365 days after Medicare benefits are used
• Part B coinsurance or copayment
• Blood (first 3 pints)
• Part A hospice care coinsurance or copayment
• Skilled nursing facility care coinsurance
• Part A deductible
• Part B deductible
• Part B excess charges
• Foreign travel exchange (up to plan limits – 80%)

People like Plan F for its full coverage and it’s travel coverage both in the states and internationally.

Since every private insurance company offers the same coverage for each letter plan, it is important to understand and compare pricing. To learn how insurance companies price plans, read this article.

Who Can get Medicare Plan F and Who Cannot?

A while back., the U.S. government passed MACRA bill, or “The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015”, that made changes to who could sign-up for Medicare Supplement Policies that covered the Medicare Part B Deductible. These plans are not “going away,” but not everyone can get them as of January 1, 2020.

Here is who CAN get Plan F still:

• You CAN get Medicare Supplement Plan F (or keep Plan F) is you turn 65 before January 1, 2020. (Same applies to Plan C.)
• In addition, you CAN get Medicare Plan F (or C) if you turn 65 on or after January 1 2020, BUT ALSO you have a Medicare Part A Effective Date that started before the year 2020. (One example of this might be someone who was on Medicare prior to turning 65 because of a disability.)
• You can KEEP your Plan F if you are already on one. It is not going away. However, there might be reasons for you to switch to a Plan G, or another plan that does not have the Part B Deductible covered. The main reason people switch is because the plans that can accept younger people into their pool, often have lower cost increases over time. You can read more about switching to a Plan G here.

Who CANNOT Get Plan F Now:

• If you turn 65 on or after January 1, 2020, you cannot get Medigap Plan F or C. (Unless you fall into the Medicare Part A Effective Date Category explained above.)

Now, if you are someone who turns 65 after the cut-off, don’t fear. Plan G is the same as Plan F with only one difference: Plan G does not cover the Medicare Part B deductible.

• You can read more about how this can save you money on premiums here.
• You can also read more about the 2020 changes to Medicare Part B’s Deductible here.

Conclusions

In summary, Medicare Plan F is a robust, comprehensive Medicare Supplement Plan (aka Medigap Plan) that picks up all of the extra costs that Original Medicare does not cover.

Plan F is only available to people who already turned 65 before January 1, 2020. However, this plan is not going away at this time. It is still a popular plan and will continue offer full coverage and service flexibility to its beneficiaries.

• If you need help in choosing a Medicare Supplement, including Plan F vs. Plan G, please contact us here if you live in NE or IA.

• If you live in any other state, please click here to find an agent near you.

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The post What is Medicare Plan F? appeared first on Medicare Life Health.

As a Medicare Health Insurance Agent I hear this question over and over: “Is Medicare Plan F Going Away?” The simple answer is, no, Plan F is not going away. However, not everyone can sign-up for it as of January 2020.

Who Can Still Get a Medigap Plan F?

Medicare Beneficiaries who turned 65 prior to January 2020, are eligible to purchase a Plan F Medicare Supplement. They will either have to have a special enrollment period for guaranteed acceptance, or go through Medical Underwriting to get into a plan.

Need Some Background Information? Please Read:

• What are Medicare Supplement Plans?
• What is Medicare Plan F?
• Medicare Supplements, aka Medigap vs Medicare Advantage
• What do I get with Original Medicare?

Who Cannot Get a Medigap Plan F?

Beneficiaries who turn 65 after January 2020, are not eligible to purchase a Plan F Medicare Supplement.

Why Can’t Some People Purchase a Plan F?

Well, the government set a new rule that says anyone that turns 65, on January 1, 2020, or after, cannot purchase any supplement policy that covers the Medicare Part B deductible. This includes Plan F and Plan C.

In 2021, the Medicare Part B Deductible is $203..

Click here to read all the 2020 Changes and Updates to Medicare Part B.

Medicare Supplement (Medigap) Plan Chart

Wondering what the difference is in Plan G vs Plan F? Here is a Medicare Supplement (Medigap) Plan Chart to remind you of what letter Plan covers what.

Plan G is More Competitive

The good news is that Plan G Medigap Plans are typically much more competitively priced than Plan F’s. Moreover, the only difference between the two plans is Plan F covers the Medicare Part B deductible, while Plan G does not.

Additionally, the Medicare Plan G Supplements are usually still less expensive than Plan F’s even after adding back in the Part B deductible.

Even if you are 65 years old before January 1, 2020, it is a good idea to see if you could save money by switching to a Plan G if you now have a Plan F.

Just know, You will have to pass medical underwriting to switch plans. Plan F’s will not have the ability to add younger (potentially healthier) beneficiaries to their pool. As a result, these plan prices will most likely rise at a faster rate than plans that can add younger people.

Plan F vs Plan G – How do They Work Differently?

Again, the only difference between Medigap Plan G and Plan F, is that Plan F pays the Medicare Part B Deductible and Plan G does not.

Part B pays for Medical Insurance. This includes:

• Outpatient
• Home Health
• Doctors
• Health Care Providers
• Durable Medical Equipment
• Prevention

Each year, when you use these types of services, you will pay the Part B Deductible ($198 in 2020) first. Then, you will pay no other costs as everything else will be picked up by your supplement.

With Plan G Supplements sometimes being up to $900 a year cheaper, it makes a lot of sense to see if you are eligible to switch to one or start on one.

The post Is Medicare Plan F Going Away? appeared first on Medicare Life Health.