For over a hundred years, Aetna has been providing Americans with healthcare coverage. They have developed a reputation in that time for their wide range of services and their dependability as a company. That makes the Aetna Medicare supplemental insurance for 2018 something that lots of people are going to be interested in.
This same insurance is available through many other insurance companies, but Aetna has proven that it can offer excellent customer service and valuable member services for its subscribers, which adds value to the plans it is offering. These supplement plans are not different in coverage from what other insurance companies are selling. Medicare has seen to that, and it ensures that every company sells the plans that line up with the coverage it has set up. Only Medicare gets to change the coverage.
So, buying from Aetna doesn't mean you get any special coverage benefits, but it can still offer some perks that not everyone has, and that's worth considering when you are looking for more healthcare coverage.
If you are one of the many people who are signed for Medicare and its basic plan but who are not being covered as much as you would like, then there are additional coverage plans available. These are supplemental plans, and they bring you more coverage on top of what the basic plan provides. They supplement the base coverage in a variety of ways.
You can only sign up for supplemental coverage if you first have the basic plan. Having that basic coverage is what essentially serves as your eligibility. In most cases, if you are eligible for the Medicare Original plan, then you are also eligible for a supplement plans. That doesn't mean you need a supplemental insurance plan, but you should be eligible.
If you aren't sure if you are eligible, then you can always complete an application for the coverage plan of your choice and find out if you are approved. If you are signing up for the first time during the period known as Open Enrollment, then you will be approved for the plan you choose. You also won't be charged higher prices simply because of a preexisting condition. This is the protection that Medicare gives you when you sign up during this time.
You must sign up for supplemental coverage at a private insurance company, though. You won't be able to get your coverage through Medicare. That government insurance provider only supplies the base plans, and it is providers like Aetna and its competitors that sell you supplemental insurance.
These companies have some autonomy with how they sell the plans. They can pick which ones they want to offer, after they have provided at least the few that Medicare requires each company to offer. That means that the plans you see available through Aetna Medicare supplemental insurance for 2018 are likely to be a bit different from what you would find with another insurance company.
The companies selling the plans can set their rates as well. Medicare does standardize premiums, so you can get a wide variety of rates on a single plan. You will even see variation in price within the same insurance provider. The price changes from one location to another. So, Aetna can sell Medicare Supplement Plan F for one price in New York and another price in Florida. The difference in price is based on several different factors- cost of living, value of supplemental insurance in that area and the type of competition in that location.
There is lots of possible coverage available from the supplemental plans. Since there are ten different ones in all, they can cover you in variety of ways. There is something unique and different about each one, even those that seem very similar at first.
All ten plans pull their coverage from the same basic list of supplemental items, though, and we are going to look at what those items are so you have a better idea of what's covered and what isn't.
The plans can cover you for the deductibles on Medicare parts A and B. However only one of the plans covers the Part B deductible, and that's Plan F. That is the one full coverage plan, which means that the Part B deductible will only be covered if you chose a plan that covers everything else.
Supplemental Medicare plans also cover you for the coinsurance or copayments on Medicare parts A and B. These are very common expenses, and they can add up each time they occur throughout the year, so it's very helpful to have them covered.
The Medicare Part B excess charges are much rarer expenses and these are only covered by a couple of plans. This occurs when the healthcare provider charges you more for Part B services than Medicare would normally allow a provider to charge. It's not common, but it does happen, since there are exceptions to some of the Medicare caps on expenses.
You can also be covered for nursing care coinsurance. This applies to skilled nursing care and may not be applicable to every type of nursing care you could receive.
Another item of coverage is the foreign travel exchange. This is an expense that is only covered up to 80%, after you have paid the necessary deductible.
You can be covered as well for some pints of blood. You get three more, to be exact, then what you are covered for by the basic Medicare plan. This is an item that is renewed each year.
The final piece of coverage that is available through Aetna Medicare supplemental insurance for 2018 and other insurance companies is that of hospice care. This covers you for 365 days of coverage, and it takes effect after the base coverage from Medicare on the same item runs out.