ONE WORD AT A TIME, Y'ALL. Don't be scared of any of these words. Some of them you have never had to use. Today's word is: DEDUCTIBLE: The amount you pay, before your insurance pays, when you use it. Fancy dictionary definition: a specified amount of money that the insured must pay before an insurance company will pay a claim. Deductibles with Medicare can seem like a "doozy" but I hope this will simplify it just a little.
With Original Medicare, A Medigap or Medicare Supplement can pay almost all of your out of pocket expense, including deductibles depending on when you were born. Schedule a Call with MAMA if you have questions about your deductibles or deductible coverage that may be available to you.
Part A has a 60 day benefit period deductible of $1556 that either you or your medigap aka Medicare Supplement could have to pay multiple times a year. Yikes... what in the world does that mean? Imagine Patient A goes into the hospital on January 1. Either the patient or his/her medigap would have to pay the deductible. No imagine patient A gets treated, gets better and gets released. Yay!!! Any time patient A is out of the hospital for 60 consecutive days and then goes back into the hospital, either the patient or the patient's medigap has to pay it again.
One of my favorite things about Medicare is that all the costs and coverage is public information. It is transparent and has beautiful accountability and it is the exact same for everyone who has it as long as we are talking about ORIGINAL MEDICARE.
Part B has a tiny little deductible as well. The deductible for the entire year is only $233. You may be too young to qualify for a medigap aka Medicare Supplement to pay this deductible. If you were born after January 1, 1955, you are too young for a plan that can pay that for you. Not too shabby though... I would be so glad to have a deductible of only $233 for the whole year. I hope this little definition blog helps and I would love to hear from you. Schedule A Call with MAMA to talk about what may be available to you.