Medicare was created as health insurance for people who are 65 years of age or older. It also provides coverage to individuals who are less than 65 years old if they have certain disabilities. As well, it covers a person of any age who has End-Stage Renal Disease (which means they have permanent kidney failure and require dialysis or a transplant.)
While Medicare covers certain medical expenses, each person who participates can often be left with co-payments, deductibles, and coinsurance charges to pay out-of-pocket. That is one reason a Medicare Supplement is so desirable to many individuals. These Medicare Supplement policies are often referred to as Medigap policies. They help fill in the gap between certain medical expenses and the amount that Medicare will pay.
Medigap insurance policies are issued by private insurance companies. The benefit amounts that these policies pay can help with your portion of the costs of Medicare-covered charges. Some of the Medigap Medicare Supplement policies will cover things that Medicare does not cover. There are twelve different Medigap policies available, which are labeled with the letters A through L. Each of those plans combines various benefits differently, so each person should evaluate which of the plans would work best for him.
It is important to note that each Medigap plan has a different cost, based on the combination of benefits that each of the plans provides. Because Medigap policies are private insurance policies which are provided by private insurance companies, the rules for this type of policy can vary significantly from state to state. Each person should educate himself about the choices before selecting a Medigap policy.