What is Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap)?
Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) is extra coverage you buy from a private company to fill the "gaps" in Original Medicare (Part A and Part B). While Medicare Advantage replaces your Original Medicare with a private network, Medigap works alongside it to help pay for out-of-pocket costs like copayments and deductibles.
Enrollment & Guaranteed Rights:
Usually, insurance companies use health questions to decide your price. However, they must sell you a policy at the best price regardless of your health in these cases:
- 🚨 IMPORTANT: If you have a Medicare Advantage plan and you move out of the plan’s service area, you have a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) to buy a Medigap policy.
- Losing Other Coverage (SEP): You also have a right to a policy if you lose employer-sponsored health plans or if your Medicare Advantage plan stops serving your area.
- Initial Window: Your one-time 6-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period starts the first month you are 65 or older and enrolled in Medicare Part B.
- Under Age 65: While federal law doesn't require it, 36 states (including North Carolina) allow an initial enrollment period for those under 65 with a disability.
- South Carolina Rule: In South Carolina, state rules generally require you to be over 65 to get a Medigap plan, even if you are disabled.
Key Things to Know:
- Best Value: Many people choose Original Medicare plus Medigap because it allows you to see any doctor in the country who accepts Medicare, with no network restrictions.
- Government-Funded Core: You must have Medicare Part A and Part B to buy a Medigap policy.
- Adding a Drug Plan: Medigap policies do not include prescription drugs. To get drug coverage, you should join a separate Medicare Part D plan.
By contacting the phone number on this website you will be directed to a licensed agent.