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NC Medicare Supplement

So you have turned 65 and are now enrolled in Medicare Part A and Part B (Original Medicare).  Is this enough coverage for you alone?  Maybe - if you are Bill Gates.  But if you are like the majority of us that don't want to nor can afford to spend thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical care during our golden years, you will need some type of supplemental coverage to fill the holes that are in Original Medicare.  This is where a NC Medicare Supplement Insurance will likely be your best choice.

Why Choose a NC Medicare Supplement?

Before we talk about how a Medicare supplement works let's look at how you could be effected financially with just original Medicare. 

Under Part A if you have an inpatient hospital stay you would be subject to a deductible of $1,288 that would cover up to the first 60 days of the benefit period (note this is not an annual deductible like you have been used to with under 65 health insurance plans).  If you stayed in the hospital past 60 days you would be subject to a $322/day for days 61-90 and a whopping $644/day for days 91-150.

Under Part B you would be liable for an annual deductible of $166. After this Medicare will cover 80% of approved services and you will cover the remaining 20% with NO CAP.  What if the Part B services totaled $200,000 your responsible for $40,000 of these charges.

As you can see you are exposed to very high medical bills with just Original Medicare.  This is where a supplement comes in.

What is This Medicare Supplement and How Does It Work?

A NC Medicare Supplement policy (also called "Medigap") is private health insurance offered by individual health carriers that covers the gaps in Original Medicare (like copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles). If you have a Medigap policy and Original Medicare, Medicare will cover its porion of the Medicare-approved claims and your Medigap policy will pay its portion.

Medigap policies are standardized by the Federal government and are identified by the letters A through N.  Regardless of which insurance company you buy from, each standardized policy must offer the same exact coverage.  The only difference between Plan F from United of Omaha and Plan F from Gerber is PRICE.  As long as your doctor accepts Medicare they accept your plan, regardless of who you bought it through. 

The chart below will show you the basic gaps that are covered by each standardized plan.

As you can see from the chart above, Plan F offers 100% coverage for your medcal bills making this the most popular choice for seniors as it gives them peace of mind.  As you can expect, this will be the most expensive plan option. However rates are drastically different from carrier to carrier for the EXACT same plan. Therefore it pays to work with a professional that can show you the different options.