• The Original Medicare Plan,
• Some Medicare Cost Plans,
• Some Medicare Private Fee-for-Service Plans, and
• Medicare Medical Savings Account Plans.

With a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan:

• Generally, you pay less for your prescriptions
• You will get a plan member card after you enroll. You use this card when you go to the pharmacy to get your prescriptions filled
• You will pay the copayment, coinsurance, and/or deductible, if any

For more information on Medicare Prescription Drug Plans please contact John Basmajian Insurance for help when selecting the Medicare Plan that is best for YOU. 

As Medicare specialists, John Basmajian Insurance is proud to announce our special customer care service. It is our job to make sure each prospective client fully understands which medicare and supplemental coverages are right for them.

We do not fit you into coverages pushed on us by Insurance Companies. As part of our special customer care service, we will come to any individual, group, or organization in Maryland to discuss your medigap insurance needs. Each client will fully understand every benefit of each plan in order to make informed decisions.

John Basmajian Insurance can be reached at 410-325-6448 or info@jbmedicare.com

We found the following story from Insurance and financial Advisor very informative and an import resource for Maryland Seniors interested on staying up to date on Medicare supplemental Insurance.

As stated on www.ifawebnews.com…

Assumptions about Medigap’s impact on Medicare costs appear to be wrong, according to new research from the America’s Health Insurance Plans, published in the journal Health Affairs.

AHIP also released a new analysis of the Medigap market, which found that Medigap enrollment has remained constant in recent years, which it says shows the value this option provides for Medicare beneficiaries.

“The new data provide a fresh perspective on Medigap coverage and its effect on health care costs in Medicare,” said Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of AHIP.

Previous studies have asserted that Medigap policyholders incur as much as 25 percent more Medicare expenditures than beneficiaries with fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare only because Medigap generally provides coverage on a first-dollar basis, meaning it does not require any cost-sharing for beneficiaries.

The AHIP study shows that nearly half of this apparent increase in Medicare expenditures can be explained by controlling for the use of services received through the Veterans Administration (VA) or at military facilities. Thirteen percent of FFS-only beneficiaries relied on the VA or military facilities as their primary source of care, compared to just one percent of Medigap purchasers. These services are not billed to Medicare, causing Medicare costs for FFS-only beneficiaries to appear artificially low compared to beneficiaries with Medigap coverage.

Further, beneficiaries’ health status may explain much of the remaining difference in health costs between these two groups. Previous studies argued that Medigap policyholders were healthier than FFS-only beneficiaries. These studies, however, relied on beneficiaries’ self-reported health status rather than looking at more detailed claims-based health status information.

AHIP conducted a detailed analysis of Medicare beneficiaries’ expenditures for the most costly health conditions and found that, for each condition and across age groups, the incidence of illness was actually higher among Medigap policyholders than among all Medicare beneficiaries.

“AHIP’s study goes further than our original research to help explain the apparent difference in Medicare costs between these two groups,” said Judith Shinogle, Assistant Professor of Health Economics at the University of Maryland and a co-author of the original study that analyzed the impact of Medigap on Medicare costs.

AHIP also released a new study of the Medigap market, which found that enrollment in Medigap has remained constant in recent years. The overall number of Medigap policyholders has remained steady and the number of standard Medigap policies in force has increased by three percent between 2004 and 2006, demonstrating the importance of this product for Medicare beneficiaries to protect themselves from high out-of-pocket costs.

Most Medicare beneficiaries with standard Medigap plans purchased Plan F (40 percent), followed by Plan C with 19 percent enrollment. Both of these policies cover 100 percent of the deductibles and coinsurance charged by Medicare.

“Medigap provides beneficiaries with additional benefits not available through Medicare and allows seniors to more accurately budget for medical expenses,” said Ignagni, who also noted that more than 90% of Medigap policyholders say they are satisfied with their coverage.

In 2008, the Medicare program has a $1,024 deductible for inpatient hospital care and 20 percent coinsurance for outpatient care after an annual deductible of $135. These are adjusted upward each year and Medicare does not have a limit on beneficiaries’ potential out-of-pocket costs. Medigap policies generally cover Medicare deductibles and coinsurance, as well as certain benefits not covered by Medicare. Two of the standard Medigap plans provide a limit on beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket costs.

The answer is NO.

When you enroll in your new Medicare drug plan, you will need to make a new choice about how to pay your premiums. You can again choose automatic premium deduction from your Social Security benefit. Premium deductions generally start two months after your drug plan submits the request. This means that the first time the premiums are withheld from your Social Security benefit, two monthly premium payments will be withheld. After the first time, only one monthly premium payment will be withheld from your monthly Social Security benefit.