Senior Educators: Need Insurance

There are two broad types of Medicare insurance available: Medicare Advantage plans and Medigap plans. Medicare Advantage plans generally have lower premiums and often cover prescription drugs for a no or low monthly premium. If you had health insurance before you began Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans will seem familiar. With Medicare Advantage plans, you will likely incur some co-pays when you use services. The other way to receive coverage is through a supplemental, or Medigap, plan. With Medigap plans, you pay a much larger premium, but in most cases you pay nothing when you use healthcare services. Medigap plans can no longer include drug coverage, so if you choose one of those plans, you will also need to get a standalone Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) to cover your prescription medications.

The chart below shows a high-level comparison of the differences between Medicare Advantage and Medigap plans:

How do I choose which plan is right for me?

Many people like help deciding which plan is a good choice for them. Plans vary widely from company to company and from place to place, and when comparing plans between companies it’s important to compare the fine print—not just the premiums. That’s what Senior Educators Insurance Services was created for—to provide free, unbiased assistance to Medicare recipients to help them choose appropriate coverage. To request help now, please fill out the short informational form here so a licensed representative can be well informed about your healthcare preferences. Or simply give us a call at 1-800-236-4613 and speak with a trained and licensed representative now!

If you prefer to do the research by yourself, we’ve created a number of tools to help you do so. First, we have created the Senior Educators Insurance Services’ Top 10 Tips for Navigating Medicare, which captures a very high-level perspective on what to consider based on our years of experience. Second, we have created a plan comparison engine that shows you a list of the plans available in your area. To access that tool, enter your zip code on the side of this page and click the “Find Plans” button. We hope that if you find a plan through our tools, you’ll enroll through our organization, as it’s how we can afford to provide excellent, unbiased information and help.