 Personal Finance PowerPoint Presentation, Medigap Overview, prepare to get financially fit by practicing personal finance. Insurance is part of our long-term risk mitigation strategy where we follow the adage of measure twice, cut once, put in a formal process in place, look in something like setting the goals, develop a plan to reach them, put the plan in action, review the results and repeat the process periodically. Most of this information comes from Investopedia, Medigap, which you can find online, take a look at the references, resources, continue your research from there. This is by Julia Kagan, updated January 28th, 2022, in prior presentations. We've been looking at insurance in general, then moving to the medical insurance, which can be more complex due to the complexity of the medical industry, as well as the rules and regulations around it and the related insurance to it. And now we're talking about Medigap in conjunction with our overall insurance discussion. So what is Medigap insurance then? Get to it, why don't you? Medigap, also called Medicare Supplement Insurance, is health insurance covered provided by private companies designed to pay for costs not covered by original Medicare. Depending on which plan you get, these costs may include co-payments, co-insurance and deductibles as well as services original Medicare doesn't cover, such as travel outside of the United States, the U.S. understanding Medigap insurance, original Medicare defined as Parts A and B. So we've been talking a little bit about Medicare here. We got the different parts of Medicare. So you got to know the alphabet, not only the alphabet, but what like the alphabet stands for when we're talking Medicare, A, B, C, D and so on. So the original Medicare defined as Parts A and B will not cover all expenses associated with illness. Medigap policies are designed to cover all or a portion of those extra charges depending on the type of coverage, but generally don't include long-term care, vision, dental care, hearing aids, eyeglasses and private nursing. Although private insurance companies offer Medigap coverage, the federal government requires companies to offer standardized policies. So they're trying to standardize this thing that the standardization makes it a little bit easier, but it also there's pros and cons with of course standardization. When you standardize something, you've got less options to be choosing from. We usually like more options, but at the same time, it makes things a little bit easier if we're not getting overwhelmed with too many things going on. In any case, your 12 choices are plans A, B, C, D, F, F high deductible, G, G high deductible, K, L, M and N. So I know that's kind of complex. It's kind of like learning the guitar scales here, so it's like a whole, whole half kind of progression that we've got to understand here. So once again, your 12 choices are plans A, B, C, D and then we go to F, F high deductible, G, G high deductible, K, L, M and then N. So however, those who become newly eligible for Medicare in 2020 and after plans C, F and F high deductible are no longer available. That's because these plans cover the Medicare Part B deductible, the amount you have to pay before coverage kicks in, which is $233 in 2022 up from $203 in 2021. Congress passed the Medicare Access and CHIP CHIP Reauthorization Act at the MACRA in 2015, which disallowed such coverage. The intention was to make people pay at least a little bit for health care to prevent them from running straight to the doctor for every scrape, scratch or sniffle. So in other words, obviously when we subsidize things like medical care and medical care is a good thing, typically because we want the preventative coverage, but will lead people then to say, oh, it's free, that means I'm just going to go hang out with my doctor like all the time, right? I'm just, I love my doctor. If I get a scratch on my, I'm going to go talk to that doctor over there and you know, obviously that's not good because we're subsidizing something, you're probably going to get more talks to the doctor than you need if you pay people to do that for free. So fortunately, those who are already enrolled in plans CF and high and F high deductible will be able to keep them going forward. In addition, people eligible for Medigap before January 1st, 2020, who did not enroll in a plan may still be able to buy them requirements for Medigap coverage monthly premiums for a Medigap policy are paid to a private insurance company that is licensed to sell such policies in your state and are in addition to the monthly premium for Medicare Part B. So we talked about kind of the pricing of Medicare in general, you got Part A, which you might be subscribed in automatically if you're paying into the Social Security Medicare system during your lifetime. And then the B that might, that you might have to sign up for the B those common two components that kind of are linked together oftentimes the first two that we probably think about when we're thinking of the Medicare a policy only covers one person. So if you and your spouse want coverage, you each need separate Medigap policy. So when we talk about we're getting into the Medicare in general, unlike with your insurance that you might have through like your employer or something like that where you can have your dependence on the medical insurance and so on. When you get to the Medicare because it's for people that are older 65, you can't really have your five year old these on it or something like that generally that doesn't make much sense. So it's for an individual, that's where it's a little bit differ. One area is a bit different than the normal insurance. Furthermore, according to Medicare.gov, which you could check out online, the best time to buy a Medigap policy is during your six month Medigap open enrollment period. During that time, you can buy any Medigap policy sold in your state. Even if you have health problems, this period automatically starts the first month. You have a Medicare Part B medical insurance and your age and your 65 or older. After this enrollment period, you may not be able to buy a Medigap policy. If you're able to buy one, it may cost more due to past past or present health problems. Paying for a Medigap coverage is straightforward because you merely compare prices and the suitability of the insurance company. So I'm not sure it's quite that easy, but hopefully it's not too difficult. Once you have a Medigap policy, it is guaranteed renewable. So even if you have health problems, in other words, the insurance company cannot cancel the policy so long as the premiums are paid, which is nice because that's kind of the point of the insurance policy. Paying for future events or future covers for future problems for the insurance. So we got the CARES Act of 2020. On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed a two trillion coronavirus emergency stimulus package called the CARES Act because they care. You get it. That's that's how they're doing acronyms these days. They called the coronavirus aid relief and economic security act into law. So it expands Medicare's ability to cover treatment and services for those affected by COVID-19. The CARES Act also increased flexibility for Medicare to cover telehealth services. So again, the doctor can get you get you on the phone and tell you to cough into the camera as you as they look down your throat or something like that instead of it in person, authorizes Medicare certification for home health services by physician assistance, nurse practitioners and certified nurse specialists increases Medicare payments for COVID-19 related hospital stay and durable medical equipment. The CARES Act also clarifies the non expansion state can use Medicaid program to cover COVID-19 related services for uninsured individuals who would have qualified for Medicaid if the state had chosen to expand. Other populations with limited Medicaid coverage are also eligible for coverage under this state option. Is there anything MediGap does not cover you might ask MediGap policies tend to lack coverage for dental vision, long term care, which is the big one there and private duty nursing that long term care. We talked a bit about that in in the past and with the with the Medicaid and so can I have a MediGap and Medicare Advantage Part C? No, having both MediGap and Medicare Advantage Part C is not legal. If you want to switch from one plan to the other, that is possible within the first 12 months of coverage.