Many people choose to purchase a Medicare Supplement plan in order to protect their savings and assets. Since traditional Medicare has significant gaps in coverage and no annual out-of-pocket limits, personal medical bills can still escalate into surprisingly large sums for a senior’s budget. Supplemental insurance can help cover these costs and keep your health care spending more stable.

Medicare Supplement Insurance policies simply help you pay Medicare related deductibles, co-pays and other expenses. They are designed to minimize your out-of-pocket health care spending and keep your health care costs stable and predictable. These policies are offered by private insurance companies that are not involved in managing your care.

Medicare Advantage Plans manage your care, similar to HMOs or PPOs offered to employees. Insurance companies that offer Advantage plans contract with Medicare to deliver you your Medicare benefits. While these plans offer low premiums—as little as $0 monthly—they often have limitations on how you can receive care. These restrictions can include requiring you to see in-network doctors only, receive authorizations before accessing specialized care and paying-out-pocket for out-of-network urgent or emergency care.

Medical underwriting is the process insurance companies use to obtain health and medical information about potential applicants. Traditionally, this process has focused on uncovering pre-existing conditions—such as heart disease or cancer—that could be used to decline coverage or raise potential premiums. At Health IQ, we believe you should be rewarded for the proactive things you do to stay healthy, like exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet. Your healthy lifestyle could help save you money on your Medicare Supplement insurance policy.

You are guaranteed the right to buy a Medicare Supplement policy under certain circumstances. For example, individuals in open enrollment or guaranteed issue periods may obtain a Medicare Supplement policy without going through medical underwriting.

Please contact one of our agents at (888) 611-0712 to get our lowest prices on Medicare Supplement policies in your area.

Health IQ is on a mission to celebrate people who use their time, energy, and money on living healthy lifestyles with special rates on their insurance. We believe that people living healthy lifestyles are often overpaying for Medicare Supplement insurance, and we have negotiated with a top insurance company to offer these special reduced rates directly to consumers living in Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nevada, and Oklahoma.

That depends. For example, during your initial open enrollment period—which is the six month period after you qualify for original Medicare and sign up for part B—you cannot legally be denied any policy or have your rates raised due to any pre-existing conditions. If this non-renewable period has passed, you will most likely be asked to undergo a medical underwriting process in order to qualify for coverage. There are also other open enrollment and “guaranteed issue” periods during which you have the right to purchase a Medicare Supplement policy regardless of your health status.

When you’re outside of open enrollment or guaranteed issue periods, medical underwriting is the method insurance companies use to evaluate your health status and decide if they want to offer you coverage and what rates you qualify for. This process includes answering questions about your health history and possibly taking a physical. For the Health IQ underwriting process you will also be asked about the proactive things you do to stay healthy, such as eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly. We will use this information to help you get the very lowest possible rates for your Medicare Supplement insurance.

Outside of open enrollment or guaranteed issue periods, insurance companies are allowed to ask you to undergo a medical underwriting process. The health information gathered in this process—which includes past and present health conditions—can be used to decline to offer you coverage or to charge you a higher premium. The good news is that if you are in generally good health with no serious pre-existing conditions, you have a good chance of obtaining Medicare supplement insurance.

Different states have different rules regarding open enrollment. But in general, the open enrollment period is a governmental protection put in place to ensure that all Medicare recipients—regardless of health status—have access to reasonably priced Medicare Supplement insurance. This six month period usually starts when you turn 65 years old and have enrolled in Medicare Part B. During this time period insurance companies are not allowed to require medical underwriting or deny you coverage for any Medicare Supplement plan that you are interested in purchasing. They are also required to offer you the most preferred rates during this period. If your six month open enrollment window has passed you will mostly likely be asked to undergo a medical underwriting process and then offered coverage based on those results.

Depending on which state you’re in, there may be other open enrollment periods, as well as guaranteed issue periods, during which you have the right to obtain any policy without medical underwriting.

Medicare Supplement plans can cover copayments, deductibles and coinsurance of the basic Medicare coverage that would otherwise be your responsibility. Some Medicare Supplement plans also have additional benefits that you may be interested in, such as coverage for skilled nursing, overseas emergency medical care Click here to see your Medicare Supplement plan options.

Medicare Supplement insurance does not cover any care not authorized by Medicare. This includes non-emergency dental and eye care, prescription drugs (except in an inpatient setting), hearing aids, eyeglasses, long term custodial care, dentures, cosmetic surgery, routine foot care, and other types of care. You can talk to a Health IQ agent about adding vision and dental coverage.