It is usually seen that Medicare is a widely accepted medical insurance for people of all ages in US and have been instrumental in providing standard medical coverage. However, with uncertainties of diseases and other medical conditions and with the increase in expenses not covered in part A or B of Medicare several private supplemental insurance have sprang up to bridge the gap by extending innovative plans to attract people to a comprehensive insurance policy. There are several trusted and reputed insurance companies that provide Medigap or call them Medicare supplement insurance.

From the above it also means that a person who opts for such a Medigap plan should first of all be already enrolled in either Part A or Part B of Medicare. When a person turns 65 he or she has 6 months time for open enrollment option. Otherwise, the person must enroll in Medicare at the age of 65 or older and thereby obtain a Medigap plan on a guarantee issue basis. This would mean that there would be no medical screening.

The absence of medical screening is an additional benefit as if a person during that age is screened then he or she may perhaps be made aware of certain illness not otherwise known. This obviously would interfere with the smooth flow of the existing insurance plan as well as premium amount as the latter would increase.

 Advantages of the plan

You may be subject to medical screening if you had skipped the stipulated period as stated above. In such circumstances you would need to get a physician’s statement and this would enable you to enroll in the Medigap plan. You may get more details than those given below if you seek information about medicare supplement plans in the Internet.

The actual benefit of such supplemental insurance policies is that you get some other coverage not covered by Medicare A or B. These are deductible and coinsurance and thus you are able to cover those costs that you think you may incur. By joining a supplemental insurance you don’t actually forego the earlier Medicare but remain within its bound and can get the same rights and the same protection offered by them.

When you are enrolled in Medigap you must know that the premiums of Medicare are still applicable to you and that you only get the extra benefits of the gaps not covered earlier. Again, your Medicare policies cannot be cancelled too. In other words, Medigap policies are only available to those people who already have Medicare Part A which is for hospital services and Part B of the Medicare which is for doctor’s service. Again, if you have a Medigap advantage plan then you are not entitled to the regular Medigap plan.

Standardization of coverage

The private companies benefits out of simply providing insurance in the gaps which the Medicare A or B has not addressed. On the other hand the beneficiary benefits out of the need to curtail unnecessary burden of shouldering extra costs that may otherwise occur in future stage of any illness or out of pocket expenses. Most of the websites of Medigap insurers companies have information about medicare supplement plans so that you may simply place your query.

You will need to make sure whether you need a Medigap policy or not as the same are only for an individual and not for the whole family. Again, you should also ascertain whether you actually do need one or not or the same may remain simply an extra burden for you. You will need to browse properly for those companies that can give coverage when you are relatively old and cannot move about without assistance, need help in eating, impaired vision, hearing aids and private duty nursing and even prescription drugs.