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Is Medicare Enough Insurance?

Guest post by: Alston Balkcom

Article Overview: If you have Medicare Part A and Part B you may have substantial coverage, but this coverage may not come close to being enough insurance. For this reason many Medicare beneficiaries have chosen to supplement their protection or to choose a Medicare Part C policy instead of depending on Original Medicare.

Is Medicare Enough Insurance?



If you have Medicare Part A and Part B you may have substantial coverage, but this coverage may not come close to being enough insurance. For this reason many Medicare beneficiaries have chosen to supplement their protection or to choose a Medicare Part C policy instead of depending on Original Medicare.

Medicare Part A covers you in the hospital, but not entirely. You will have a deductible to pay. You have coinsurance to pay. You will also find that there is a maximum number of days that you can be covered in the hospital before all of the costs have to come out of your pocket.

If all you have is Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B, you will may have to pay a substantial amount fo the costs if you need hospital care. In 2011, the Medicare hospital deductible will be $1,132. You won't have other expenses unless you are in the hospital longer then 60 days. If you stay longer, you will have to pay $283 a day for the next 30 days in the hospital.

If you are in the hospital longer than that during one benefit period, you will start using your lifetime reserve days. You will $566 a day to pay while you are using your lifetime reserve days. After you have exhausted your lifetime reserve days, you will be responsible for all expenses.

Medicare Part C insures doctor's visits. However, you will have a deductible to pay. You will have coinsurance to pay as well.

Medicare's 2011 deductible has gone up. The new amount for physician visits will be $162. You will incur costs for 20% of costs in excess of the deductible up to the amount that Medicare approves. You may also be responsible for any amount that your physician charges that are in excess of what Medicare approves.

Two things that even a combination of Part A and Part b won't cover well are prescription medicines and long term care. Rx received in the hospital are part of the hospital protection. There is a very limited amount of insurance provided by Medicare for nursing home stays.

You can get protection for most of the health care expenses that you might incur by purchasing Medicare Part C and Medicare Part D, a Medicare Part C plan that insures prescription drugs or a Medicare Supplement policy and Medicare Part D.

Medicare Advantage policies are Part C plans. These are very popular plans today.

A Medicare Advantage policy can be nearly all complete. It won't cover long-term care, but it can give you much better insurance than Original Medicare alone. Much of the exposure that you would have in the hospital will be eliminated. The same is true in the physician's office.

These options tend to pay poorly or not at all if you used health care providers who are outside of the network for any non emergency treatment. Emergency care is covered anywhere in the US. This means that vacations inside the United States shouldn't be a problem so long as you don't need routine care while you are away from home. This limit can hurt you if you are a snowbird or you have a medical condition that requires routine treatment when you are away from home.

These plans usually cover prescription medicines also. Some do not, but you can purchase a standalone prescription drug plan.

A Medicare Part D policy is also known as a Prescription Drug Policy. These plans can dramatically reduce your expenses for prescriptions. Prescription drug insurance is usually included in Medicare Part C, but is no longer included in Medicare Supplement contracts.

Medicare Supplement plans when combined with Original Medicare and a Prescription drug policy can also cover you in a nearly comprehensive way. Although the protection in a nursing home will still be lacking, you can get excellent coverage in the physician's office, the hospital and for prescription medicines with this combination.

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Article Tags: insurance, medicare, medicare beneficiaries, medicare part a and part b
Referred by: http://www.searchengineworkshops.com



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