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Medicare HMOs & PPOs
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SHIBA Guide
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Medicare supplemental
health insurance is confusing and may seem to be
overwhelming to many. Maybe this will
help. There are
two major categories of supplemental plans: government
designed plans and government contracted plans.
Government designed plans are the Medicare Supplements
or Medigap policies. They come in 12 standard choices
with two of the choices available with a simple
modification. The choices are called Plan A, Plan B,
Plan C, Plan D, Plan E, Plan F, Plan G, Plan H, Plan I,
Plan J, Plan K and Plan L and the modified plans are the
High Deductible Plan F and the High Deductible Plan J. As
the letters increase from A to J, the coverage generally
increases and the premiums are generally higher. Plans K
and L are lower coverage and
lower cost alternatives. The high deductible versions
simply impose a deductible before the insurance company
pays any benefits as a way to cut your health insurance
premium costs.
One important thing to remember. You don't have to
waste much time trying to figure out which company's Plan
F Medicare Supplement is better than the other company's.
The government designed
these senior health benefits and the insurance
company is just providing the benefits. Cost is the only
difference between two or more Plan F policies other than
customer service and
quality of company issues. The plans show above
are notable because of the no–cost
prescription discount
card included.
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