Which Michigan Medicare Plan is Right for You?

In Michigan you have options to get additional coverage for your Medicare. These plans that offer you coverage where Original Medicare doesn’t are called Medigap Plans and Medicare Advantage Plans. While each provide you extra benefits, they work quite differently.

It’s important that you know how each one functions before deciding which type of plan you enroll in.

Once you decide what type of plan you want, you will need to decide on which option within the plan types you would like to have. Each plan offers different benefits, so you’ll want to consider which benefits mean the most to you to have.

Choosing a Medigap Plan in Michigan

A Medigap plan is offered to Medicare beneficiaries to help with the additional expenses that Medicare would normally have the beneficiary pay for. These additional expenses can really add up by the end of the year if you don’t have a Medigap plan.

There is a total of ten standardized Medigap plans offered in Michigan. Each one of them all pay 100% of your Part A coinsurance. This can be quite beneficial to some because Part A copays get quite high if you have a long stay in the hospital. A few other things that each Michigan Medigap plan either pays in full or in part are Part B copays, first three pints of blood you might need in the hospital, and Part A hospice care copays.

The rest of the benefits that Medigap plans are able to offer vary between each plan. There’s one particular plan that offers all of the benefits that a Medigap plan can cover, Plan F.

Plan F covers 100% of every benefit offered for a Medigap plan except one, Foreign travel emergencies. Plan F offers 80% coverage for that.

However, Plan G is becoming the most popular since Plan F will no longer be offered starting in 2020. It’s one of the most considered Medigap plans because contains almost all the same benefits as Plan F. The only thing that you would have to pay for with Plan G that you wouldn’t for Plan F is Part B’s annual deductible of $183. After doing the math, Plan G comes out to be more cost effective for some people even while paying the $183 deductible each year.

Choosing a Medicare Advantage Plan in Michigan

A Medicare Advantage plan gives Medicare beneficiaries the option to combine Part A, Part B, and Part D all into one plan. Even though Part B is rolled into your Advantage plan, you are still required to pay your monthly premium for Part B.

This type of plan can have other benefits available that Medigap plans do not offer, such as dental, vision, and hearing. These plans’ monthly premiums are typically lower and at times are easier to get enrolled into than Medigap plans.

Advantage plans usually come with one of two types of networks, HMO and PPO.

Each Medicare Advantage insurance company is at liberty to set its own cost sharing prices for the patient as long as that benefit is not any less than what Original Medicare would cover. Your copays could be different with different plans, so you want to review the plan’s summary before enrolling. 

However, Advantage plans do have an out-of-pocket maximum cap to protect you. Once you hit that cap, your Advantage plan will take on responsibility for your charges for the rest of that year.

Clarifying Your Medicare Options in Michigan

You cannot have both a Medigap plan and an Advantage plan so making a choice is between the two is inevitable. Knowing all of the details and options you have within each type can help clarify which choice is right for you.

Boomer Benefits is available to clarify the options you have that will be most cost-effective Michigan Medicare plans for you personally. Because we are an independent insurance brokerage, we have an unbiased opinion towards the insurance companies. We are able to offer you options throughout multiple companies instead of an agent that works with one particular type of insurance that will only offer you their prices.

Feel free to reach out to us whenever you want to discuss your options.