Supplement

Do I Need a Medicare Supplement? Here’s How You Can Find Out!

Every day, 44 million Americans put their mind at ease because they’re covered with the help of Medicare. If you’re one of them, you’ll find that there are still some limits to what’s covered. You might wonder from time to time “Do I need a Medicare supplement?”

It turns out that you might if you meet certain requirements.

Making Frequent Doctor Visits?

If you have to visit your doctor fairly often, those costs are going to add up. If you have any of the 10 standardized Medicare supplements, you’ll be able to pay for 50 percent of just about every visit. Most Medicare-covered visits are going to get you at least halfway to the finish line.

However, if you’re paying half of twice the visits of the average person, you’re going to be in trouble. Those costs are going to start ticking upward and end up breaking past your coverage limits.

Copayments add up when you’re sick, need to see specialists, or are just at an age where you have to make frequent trips to the doctor. Even just managing an injury that you’ve recovered from can be stressful.

If you have Medicare Part B, your deductible is $185. That’s what you’ll have to cover before you start your coverage. Even then, you’re only going to have 20 percent of your average visits paid for.

Calculate what you usually spend on doctor’s visits in a month and compare that to the cost of supplemental coverage.

You might find that it’s cheaper to pay for that coverage than pay for your bills out of your own pocket.

Do You Need Quality Equipment

For aging people and disabled individuals, medical equipment is important to maintain their quality of life. However, when saddled with cheap or inadequate equipment, quality of life is challenging and people struggle to get around comfortably. The cost of quality equipment can be several times more than the cost of cheaper or lower quality medical equipment.

Medicare supplement plans cover equipment costs that could drag down the amount of savings people with disabilities have. Whether you need a walker, wheelchair, or hospital bed, the differences in quality are broad from the bottom of the price range to the top. If you’re unable to buy the best equipment, you’re likely to struggle with comfort or even the ability to just get from your home to your doctor.

If you buy a piece of equipment that costs $2,000, you might have a coinsurance policy that requires you to pay for $400 of that. However, if that’s most of your monthly budget for necessities, this could be a massive undertaking for you. Taking on costly expenses could lead you to take out personal loans or other funding options that you can’t afford.

Medicare supplements are great for taking care of those coinsurance costs. Because different plans are going to have different coverage limits, you need to shop around and compare what companies have to offer. With Medicare supplement plans, you should be able to stay ahead of costs.

Hospital Visits Are Costly

If you’re facing the possibility of an extended hospital stay, you should get the right insurance first. If you have a history of having to stay in the hospital for a week or two at a time, these costs are going to add up. In case you end up staying beyond the 60-day limit of Medicare, it’s going to cost you hundreds of dollars a day.

There is zero fee in coinsurance when you have Medicare Part A. You’ll be able to get into the hospital and stay as long as 60 days if you’re covered by this plan. However, if you find that you’re stricken with an illness that requires constant attention for a long time, you could pay more than $300 every day.

Beyond 90 days, the number jumps up to more than $600 a day. Staying in the hospital for three months costs tens of thousands of dollars without supplemental insurance. Look at your current situation what your doctor projects.

If this is going to be a problem for you, consider supplemental coverage. The right plan is going to not only cover those costs of staying in the hospital but potentially get you out of the hospital sooner.

Coverage While Traveling Is a Challenge

If you travel a lot for work or to see friends and family, you’re going to need to be covered, especially as you age. Foreign travel isn’t a priority for everyone but it’s a necessity for some families. Travelers insurance is often much more expensive than the Medicare supplements available.

Traveling puts you at risk for more problems than you’d face staying home. You could slip and fall, run afoul of some bad food, or end up catching something that doesn’t naturally occur at home. The consequences are dire as we get older.

Medicare isn’t going to cover any care you get outside of the U.S. or any of its territories. If you buy all of the supplemental insurance plans up to their limits, you’ll be covered with 80 percent of your medical emergency fees while traveling. This could be a real godsend if you need to travel all the time but have a fragile constitution.

Even if you’re currently in good health, you never know what’s going to arise in the future. Supplemental insurance is always a good idea.

Still Asking “Do I Need A Medicare Supplement?”

If you’re still asking yourself “Do I need a Medicare supplement”, you might have to dig deeper into your own needs. Everyone has unique medical needs, so it’s up to you to figure out what works best for you.

In case you’re searching for a caregiver, check out what people are looking for in the best ones out there.

Are Medicare Supplement Plans Worth It? Here’s Everything You Need to Know…

Senior citizens make up over 13% of the United States population and are projected to make up as much as 20% of the population by the year 2060.

That growth of seniors in our country means that more and more people are asking questions about Medicare, what it covers, and whether or not Medicare supplement plans are worth investing in.

Chances are you already know what Medicare is, but for the uninitiated…Medicare is a single-payer insurance program provided by the United States government that helps cover senior’s and other special party’s healthcare costs.

What many people don’t know is that Medicare is not free.

So then, are Medicare supplement plans worth it?

As you’ll see below, the answer for many is yes.

What is a Medicare Supplement Plan?

A Medicare supplement plan is an insurance policy that helps fill in the gaps in your Medicare coverage.

What gaps are there in your coverage? As it turns out, a lot.

For example, most Medicare recipients pay expensive deductibles and 20% of their outpatient care expenses. Furthermore, Medicare has no deductible ceiling.

That means if your medical expenses are high during a certain year, you’ll keep paying out of pocket as you receive treatment.

People who have previously asked themselves, “Are Medicare supplement plans worth it?” have come to find that they love keeping their Medicare-related expenses in check with supplement plans since it lets them have predictable healthcare costs as opposed to volatile expenses.

A Comprehensive List of Medicare Supplement Plan Benefits

In case you’re still not convinced of the value a Medicare supplement plan can bring to your life, here are some of the top benefits people cite as supplement plan holders:

1. Protection Against Healthcare Cost Surges

As we’ve mentioned, the primary benefit of Medicare supplement plans is that they cover your Medicare-related experiences.

That means you can budget a concise amount of money each month for your medical costs without having to worry about getting sick one month and needing to dip deeper into your savings for treatment.

2. Many Medical Supplement Plans Have Ceilings

One of the worst aspects of Medicare is that there is no ceiling as to how much you can pay in deductibles during any given year.

Not only do Medicare supplement plans cover endless Medicare deductibles, but supplement plans also have ceilings.

That means after you’ve paid into your supplement plan up to a certain amount, it will continue to cover your Medicare expenses without asking you for any additional constitutions.

3. International Coverage

Did you know that Medicare doesn’t cover health and injury-related expenses that occur outside of the United States? That means you can never take a vacation or travel without worrying about facing a health issue.

With Medicare supplemental insurance, a good policy will fill in those Medicare international travel gaps so you can feel safe no matter where you go.

4. Guaranteed Acceptance During Open Enrollment

With most insurance policies, insurers can deny you coverage or charge you more based on your health situation. With a Medicare supplement insurance plan, insurers need to accept you and can’t raise costs based on your condition so long as you enroll during your open enrollment window.

Open enrollment for Medicare supplement plans is open for 6 months from when you turn 65 years old.

5. Plans Are Always Renewable

Even if your health takes a turn for the worst, a Medicare supplement insurer can’t cancel your plan so long as you’re keeping up with your premiums.

That means you can be sure that your plan will always renew at the end each calendar year without any issue.

6. You’ll Have Options

There’s no such thing one size fits all when it comes to health. That’s why Medicare supplement plans offer a variety of different coverage options to make sure you get all of the care you need and pay for none of the care you don’t.

The more comprehensive your plan is, the higher your monthly premiums will be but if you don’t need much in the way of Medicare expense help, you can also save by picking a less comprehensive insurance policy.

7. The Freedom to Try

When you have a Medicare supplement plan, there may come a time when you want to try another policy on for size. It could be that another policy is cheaper or that you’re interested in doing business with a more reputable provider.

With most Medicare supplement plans comes a “free look” contingency.

Free look contingencies enable supplement plan buyers to switch to a new policy, try it for 30 days, and then opt to either keep or revert back to their old policy without penalty during that period.

That means that you never have to feel trapped in the Medicare supplement policy you initially sign on to.

Wrapping Up Are Medicare Supplement Plans Worth It? Everything You Need to Know…

As you can see above, we are big-time proponents of investing in a Medicare supplement plan. At the end of the day, as you grow old, most people will be on a fixed income and have unpredictable health needs.

To make sure you’re always taken care of and to never have to worry about losing massive portions of your savings to illness, answer yes to the question of, “Are Medicare supplement plans worth it?”.

Start researching what supplement plans are out there and good luck finding the perfect plan for your unique needs!

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