Medicare

Medicare helps cover many of your health care needs. Medicare works with private companies approved by Medicare that provides you with several different ways to get your health care and prescription drug coverage through Medicare Program. The Medicare plan that you choose affects benefits, cost, choice of doctor, convenience, and qualityof care. You can select from several different Medicare plans.

The Original Medicare Plan (Parts A & B) – This is a fee-for-service plan that covers many health care services and certain drugs. You can go to any doctor or hospital that accepts Medicare. When you get your health care, you use your red, white, and blue Medicare card.

The Original Medicare Plan pays for many health care services and supplies, but it doesn’t pay all of your health care costs. There are costs that you must pay, like deductibles, copayments and coinsurance. These costs are called “gaps” in Medicare coverage. You might want to look at buying a Medigap policy to cover these gaps in Medicare coverage. You can also add prescription drug coverage (Part D) by joining a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.

Medicare Advantage Plans (Part C) – These plans are available in many areas. If you have one of these plans, you do not need a Medigap policy. These plans can include Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO), Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO), Private Fee-for-Service Plans (PFSP), Medicare Special Needs Plans (MSNP) and Medicare Medical Savings Account Plans (MSA).

These plans may cover more services and have lower out-of-pocket costs than the Original Medicare Plan. Some plans cover prescription drugs. In some plans, like HMOs, you may only be able to see certain doctors or go to certain hospitals to get covered services.

Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (Part D) – These stand-alone plans add prescription drug coverage to the Original Medicare Plan, some Medicare Cost Plans, some Medicare Private Fee-for-Service Plans and Medicare Medical Savings Account Plans.

The Medicare plan that you choose affects many things like cost, benefits, doctor choice, convenience, and quality.