Am I Guaranteed to Qualify for a Medigap Policy?

When it comes to your health, there’s really no such thing as being too prepared. Luckily, there are options like Medigap available to help cover the cost of healthcare for people over 65.

What Is Medigap?

Medigap is a supplementary insurance option offered in tandem with traditional Medicare insurance. It’s provided to the recipient through private insurance companies, but the benefits are standardized, so beneficiaries can generally expect the same coverage for a policy of a given letter. For example, all Medigap Plan F policies have the same benefits. There are several Medigap options available for purchase, each covering its own variety of benefits. Some are basics included in all plans, like blood or standard hospital benefits that may not be covered by the primary Medicare plan. Others cover additional options like hospice care, home care options, and inpatient services. Premiums and estimated annual costs vary from plan to plan as well.

How Do I Qualify for Medigap?

There are no set time frames attached to joining or leaving supplemental Medigap plans offered by Medicare. However, in most cases it is required that you be in relatively good health at the time of application in order to qualify for benefits. Nevertheless, there are other times that people are able to enroll in a Medigap plan regardless of current health concerns.

Guaranteed issue periods of qualification for Medigap usually are when a given patient is a new recipient of either Medicare Part A or Medicare Part B and is at an age of 65 years of age or older. Furthermore, these guaranteed periods last from 3 months to 6 months before you actually begin Medicare, as well as half a year after the month you are recorded as meeting all of the criteria attached to the guarantee.

There are sometimes special circumstances involved that can also result in guaranteed coverage under Medigap. These include your plan provider stopping coverage in the area in which you live, or moving out of an area where you’re covered.

However, it’s important to note that eligibility for these are can vary from situation to situation and individual to individual. Get in touch with your Medicare agent for the current Medigap plan you’re considering, in order to determine whether or not you qualify.