Will Your Doctor Accept Your New Medicare Supplement?

Every year, you receive an increase on your Medicare Supplement policy premium. Some years the premium increase is small but after a few years, the increases add up and it may be time to reach out to your agent to see if you can get identical coverage at a lower cost!

You are able to switch your supplement any time of the year- you are not limited to the Annual Open Enrollment period which runs from October 15 to December 7. However, there is one caveat to switching- you have to be able to qualify with your health! Most carriers will ask a list of health questions to see if they will offer you a new policy!

We help our clients find better pricing and help them switch to a new supplement company. Our clients are happy to save on the premium! The biggest question we get when a client is contemplating making a change is- WILL MY DOCTOR ACCEPT MY NEW MEDICARE SUPPLEMENT PLAN?

The simple answer is YES!!! Let us explain why!

Prior to starting with Medicare, you either had group insurance through work or you had an individual policy through the marketplace. When you enroll in Medicare, Medicare steps into the shoes of your group or individual insurance and is in charge of processing your claims and paying your doctors.

When you were on your group or individual plan, prior to seeing a doctor, you would inquire whether the doctor accepts your plan. When you go on Medicare, you need to ask the same question- does your doctor accept Medicare? You can see any doctor across the nation contracted with Medicare. This concept holds true for your supplement as well- you can use your Medicare Supplement plan with any provider that accepts Medicare! You should let your doctor know that you have a new supplement but you do not need to ask them if they accept it.

IF YOUR DOCTOR ACCEPTS MEDICARE, THEN YOUR DOCTOR WILL ACCEPT YOUR SUPPLEMENT. When your doctor provides care, the doctor submits a bill to Medicare for the service rendered. Medicare processes the claim and typically pays 80% of the approved amount. The remaining balance of 20% is then sent to your supplement company and the supplement company must pay it as long as the bill is approved by Medicare.

Once Medicare pays its portion of the bill to the doctor, the balance remaining is paid by the supplement company and every supplement company will pay the same amount literally to the penny. That is why we suggest our clients review their supplement every 2 to 4 years depending on the level of increase because there is no reason to pay more premium for identical coverage.

Our agency represents most of the major Medicare Supplement companies. We pride ourselves on staying on top of the rates and contacting our clients to see if it makes sense to change. If you haven’t heard from us for a while and you want to make sure that your premium is still competitive, please do not hesitate to call the office and we will put you in touch with your agent to review your rates.

Thank you as always for your business and we are looking forward to working with you for many years to come.