Today with eye health brokers to talk about medicare supplement plans now we’ve got plenty of videos about medicare supplement plans that go more in-depth regarding the different types of plans how to choose the best plan for you

and the differences between Medicare supplement plans and medicare advantage but today we’re going to be talking about well what is a medicare supplement plan if you’re new to medicare you probably have lots of information that’s been thrown at you

and you need to understand the basics if this is your first time on our channel welcome if you’ve been here before please forgive me for repeating information you’ve probably already heard but like I said before 

my name is Sarah and I’m here with eye health brokers at eye health brokers we are licensed health insurance brokers which means we are qualified to help you with any and all of your medicare needs we’re licensed nationwide with over 200 carriers and there is no charge for our services

so if you have any questions about medicare or health insurance in general you can reach us in the comments below and you can also give us a call here at eye health brokers at 888-410-0344 as I always say please make sure to like this video because liking it will make it more visible on youtube for others who are looking for the same type of information as you probably know medicare is confusing

so we want to get this information out there we want to make sure that our clients and our viewers are as well informed as possible because your health care and your health insurance really is very important also please make sure to subscribe

because we do release these videos on a weekly basis and if you didn’t already know you can find us on Facebook we have a medicare page dedicated entirely to medicare and we also have a general eye health brokers group you can also find us on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram and of course here on youtube now today we’re going to be talking about medicare supplement plans and how they work

but if you want to learn more about medicare supplement plans I’ll put some links to some other videos in the description below so make sure to check them out

What is Medigap

so first let’s talk about the original medicare. Original Medicare is medicare part a which is your hospital insurance and medicare part b which is your outpatient insurance this is the basic medicare coverage that you’ve been paying into during your working career now like with any other type of health insurance there are some financial gaps some costs that you need to be aware of medicare supplement plans also known as Medigap plans 

basically, supplement your original medicare coverage or fill in those financial gaps Medicare supplement plans do not offer additional benefits but they are going to fill in the financial gaps of original medicare so let’s break down exactly what those financial gaps might be so first let’s talk about monthly premiums

now medicare supplement plans aren’t going to step in and cover your monthly premiums but let’s talk about them anyway medicare part usually doesn’t have a monthly premium medicare part b however does 

and it’s based upon your income it does tend to go up on a yearly basis again this is why we recommend that you subscribe to stay up to date that way you know exactly what these costs might be then there are deductibles and coinsurance

so your deductible is the amount that you have to pay out of pocket before your insurance kicks in before they begin sharing that cost so there is a deductible for medicare part a and a deductible for medicare part b

your medicare part a deductible is actually not applied annually but rather per benefit period or per hospital stay might make it a little bit less confusing

so if you need to be admitted to the hospital more than once per year that deductible is going to reset and you’re going to need to meet it again medicare part b also has a deductible but this is a once annual deductible once you’ve met that deductible then you’ll be responsible for coinsurance for part a and for part b also work differently

so if you’re at the hospital if you need to be admitted to the hospital once you’ve met your deductible if you’re there for less than 60 days there’s actually no coinsurance that you need to be worried about

however, if you need to go to perhaps a skilled nursing facility to recover from treatment then there is co-insurance that you need to be aware of especially once you’ve been there past 60 days

and it can certainly get very very expensive so that’s an area where medicare supplement plan might step in to take over those costs medicare part b is much simpler once

you’ve met your deductible you’ll be responsible for a 20 coinsurance when you visit the doctor almost all doctors and hospitals accept medicare and of course, you’re only paying 20 of the Medicare-approved amount the problem with original medicare coverage is that there is no out-of-pocket maximum

so with insurance that you’ve probably had in the past, there’s always some type of out of pocket maximum in the several thousand dollar ranges 

basically if you incur major medical expenses and those expenses begin to pile up once you reach that out of pocket maximum your insurance will take over for the remainder of the costs so that way you don’t rack up tremendous medical debt this is not the case with original medicare which is a major problem because unfortunately as we age we do tend to need more medical care

now this is where Medicare supplement plans step in to cover those financial gaps the plans all offer different levels of coverage and there are many different plans to choose from again

I’ll put those videos in the description below but basically, they all work in the same way you’re going to pay an additional monthly premium towards your medicare supplement plan, and in return that medicare supplement plan will help to cover your deductibles and your and of course by nature 

it will impose an out-of-pocket maximum in fact some medicare supplement plans will basically cover all of your medical care except for that part b deductible that’s the only thing that is no longer being covered by medicare supplement plans also plan K and plan L are cost-sharing plans so they will cover most of those out-of-pocket costs not all of them 

however, they will impose an out-of-pocket max to still give you additional protection some other things to remember about medicare supplement plans number one medicare supplement plans are standardized which means

if you choose plan g the coverage that’s offered is going to be exactly the same no matter who your carrier is so make sure to shop around

and ideally use a broker remember plan g will be plan g no matter who your carrier is the only thing that’s changing is how much you’re going to pay on a monthly basis so make sure to pick a plan that’s within your budget and find a carrier that has a history of low stable increases 

because plans do tend to increase on a yearly basis also remember that if your doctor accepts medicare they accept your medicare supplement plan it doesn’t matter who your carrier is you’re not restricting the network in any way finally remember that you can shop for a Medicare supplement plan you can enroll in a Medicare supplement plan year-round there’s no special enrollment period like with the other parts of medicare however 

it’s in your best interest to do so during your individual open enrollment period which is the six months after you turn 65 and enroll in medicare part b during this time you won’t be subject to medical underwriting after this you may be subject to medical underwriting which means you could be denied based on your health or you could be charged more

if you liked this video please make sure to click as I hope you like this video so give us a thumbs up that way we can get this information out there and of course, make sure to subscribe to stay up to date as always if you have any questions if there’s anything we can help you with you can give us a call at I health brokers at 888-410-0344 or you can reach us in the comments below and we are more than happy to help with any and all of your medicare or health insurance-related questions you can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok and Twitter and if there are any videos you’d like to see anything you feel like we left out of this video let us know and we will be more than happy to help thank you so much have a great day bye you

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