One of the most hotly contested debates in the country today revolves around Medicare reform. It is certainly no secret that Medicare alone is not sufficient to cover all of our health care needs. Medicare supplemental health insurance is the health insurance taken in addition to the Medicare insurance. Supplemental refers to the add-on nature of the insurance; it supports the Medicare insurance by paying for costs that are not covered by Medicare. These include charges such as deductibles, copayments and coinsurance. Because it helps pay for gaps in the cost and reimbursements of the Medicare insurance, it is also called Medigap insurance. Private health insurers offer supplemental insurance plans; the prices for the plans vary from one insurer to another even for the same plan. Finding out the right plan is important from two aspects: getting the right supplemental insurance plan for your requirements, and getting it at the lowest cost.

Different Medicare Supplemental Insurance Plans

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS), the federal agency that administrators the Medicare program, has standardized the supplemental insurance plans into 10 plan types. These standardized plans are offered by private insurers as insurance products. The plans are named from A to N, with the plans names with E, H, I and J discontinued after May 31, 2010. Therefore, we have 10 plans named A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M and N. Plan F can be further divided into F and F with high deductible, which makes for a total of 11 plans.

The benefits can be divided under the following heads: Basic benefits, Skilled Nursing Care, Medicare Part A deductible, Part B deductible, Part B Excess Charges, Foreign Travel and Preventative Services. Even the basic benefits offered under different plans differ from one to another. For example, the Plan A offers just basic benefits, but is costlier than F deductible, which offers basic benefits in addition to other benefits. This is possible because plan A has more basic benefits.

Price Comparisons for Medigap Insurance Plans

Private companies offer different supplement insurance plans at different costs. Even for the same plan with exact same features, the monthly premiums can vary to a factor of up to 2x. For example, the Medigap K is available for a monthly premium of $85 to $165. This shows that among the many companies that offer K, at least one is offering it at a monthly premium of just $85 per month, whereas the same standardized plan with the same features is also on offer at a premium of $165 per month.

With so many different plans on offer, and the complexity of dozens of insurance companies offering the same plans at different prices, it becomes hard to find the best supplemental plan for your requirement. Therefore, it becomes all the more important to shop judiciously to get the plan that not only meets your requirements, but is also easy on your pocket.

Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan F is one of the most popular plans. It offers the most coverage and convenience for the Medicare recipient. Plan F Medicare covers the Part B Excess Charges as well. If your Physician often charges more than Medicare Parts A & B will pay them, Plan F Medicare will cover those costs. With a Plan F Medicare Supplement you won’t see any out-of-pocket charges on Medicare covered expenses.

Medicare supplement, or Medigap policies have were standardized by the government several years ago. They are lettered A – L, and are designed to cover things that Medicare doesn’t cover. Plan A is the most basic and least expensive plan. Plan J is the most comprehensive and expensive plan. But plan F is the most commonly purchased and most popular plan.

When you talk to different brokers who are selling these policies, you just need to be aware that no matter what insurance company its from, the plans all have to offer identical benefits. In other words, a Plan F from company A is identical to a Plan F from company B, or C, or D. Don’t let an agent fool you into believing that his plan F is somehow better than the one you already have. However, the insurance companies can charge whatever premiums they want to. So in a sense, it becomes a price shopping game.

Now you still need to be sure you’re dealing with a reputable company, with strong financial backing, great customer service, excellent claims paying history, etc. But assuming you have all those things, it does come down to price. For this reason, it’s very important that you work with an independent broker who can represent several different insurance companies. If you’re talking to just one insurance company directly, the only thing they can sell you is their own product. Of course they will say that they have the best Medicare Supplement policies. An independent broker will have many companies to choose from.

Another benefit of working with an independent Medicare specialist is that they can educate you on the differences between Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage plans (or Private Fee-For-Service plans). It may be that for you, a Medicare Advantage plan is the best way to go. These plans work differently from using regular Medicare and a Medicare Supplement policy. With these plans, you pay a small co-pay each time you see the doctor or go into the hospital. For this reason, costs can be a little more unpredictable. But if you’re the type of person who is relatively healthy, and you don’t go to the doctor that often, you could save a lot of money with one of these plans.

If you would like to get free, no obligation quotes from an independent Medicare specialist on both the best Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage plans, visit http://www.gomedigap.com/ .

GoMedigap is one of the largest independent insurance agencies for Medicare supplements, they represent over 20 Medicare supplement insurers to ensure they have a wide range of options for their clients. GoMedigap has an internal Medicare supplement quoting system that can pull pricing from their top Medicare supplement companies to help find the best rate and has internal underwriting expertise to reduce the likelihood of declines on submitted Medicare supplement applications. They perform annual reviews for our clients to ensure they always have the lowest rate for their chosen Medicare supplement plan and can assist in your search for the best Medicare part D drug plan for your situation.

GoMedigap can help you identify your best options for getting the Medicare supplement coverage you want at the lowest price as we represent quite a few insurance companies with Medicare supplementary offerings and are always on the lookout for the best combinations of price, coverage, and financial stability. Their proprietary Medicare supplement quoting system shows pricing for various plans from the top 10 providers of Medicare Supplements.