In most cases the insured will show their Medicare card to the provider and the provider will let medicare know that there is a medicare supplement insurance. Medicare will then process their claim and the remainder of the bill will be automatically filed with the medicare supplement insurance electronically. If this is done correctly the insured should receive a claim payment summary. This summary will have the amount medicare paid and the amount that the supplemental insurance paid.
In most cases a medicare supplement insurance claim is filed automatically by the provider, but in some cases it may not be done and the insured has to do it themselves, the best way to handle it would be to take the explanation of Medicare benefits they receive along with the billing statement and a summary notice and send them all to the supplemental insurance company. Medicare A and B is usually handled about the same when it comes to Medicare supplement claims.
Medicare Supplement insurance should be a simple process and the health care provider should automatically submit a claim to the secondary insurance, but if they don’t it is up to the insured to follow up after a few weeks of not hearing anything. The insured may have to submit the claim themselves. Along as the insured keeps track of the billing statements and explanation of benefits they should be able to submit the claims without a problem. Once all of that is done they should follow up and not assume that the provider of the secondary insurance company has completed everything in a timely manner. In cases of elderly patients it is best if the caretaker follows up on everything and keeps track of all the relevant paperwork.