Medicare in Wyoming

Like most states, Wyoming offers add-on options for your Medicare coverage. There are two main types of plans that you can have in addition to having Medicare Part A and Part B. These are Medicare Supplement plans and Medicare Advantage plans.

In Wyoming, people tend to lean towards Medicare Supplement plans rather than Medicare Advantage plans. This is because Wyoming is more of a rural area and it would be difficult to use a Medicare Advantage plan. We’ll address that later though.

Medicare Supplement Plans in Wyoming

Commonly known as Medigap plans, Medicare Supplement plans continue to help thousands of Medicare beneficiaries. They help by covering the gaps within Original Medicare. Gaps such as deductibles, copayments, and coinsurances can all add up very quickly, so it’s nice to know that Medicare has provided a way to help people pay for these expenses.

There are ten standardized Medigap plans that are available in Wyoming. Each one has a monthly premium in which you pay in addition to your Part B premium. Medigap premiums are based on a number of things.

Your age, gender, tobacco use, and location can all directly affect your monthly premium for your Medigap plan. With that said, just because your cousin who is the same age and gender but lives in Idaho has a Plan G for $120/month, doesn’t mean yours will be $120/month.

The ten Medigap plans are all named “Plan” followed by a letter. Note that Medigap has Plans not Parts. It’s important that you know this, so you don’t get Medicare Part D mixed up with Medigap Plan D for instance.

Enrolling in A Medigap Plan

The best time to enroll in a Medigap plan is when you don’t have to go through medical underwriting. Medical underwriting is when you have to answer a serious of health questions so that the insurance carrier can decide to approve or decline you for coverage.

There are two circumstances that allow you to enroll in a Medigap plan without answering health questions. The first, most popular one is Open Enrollment.

Each Medicare beneficiary gets an Open Enrollment. Your Open Enrollment technically begins the day of your Part B effective date and ends six months later. However, you might be able to enroll in a Medigap plan earlier than that if your agent knows your Medicare ID number.

The second circumstance where you can skip underwriting is Guaranteed Issue. This is a right you can get if you have a certain situation where Medicare feels that you can be guaranteed a Medigap plan.

The most common way people get Guaranteed Issue is when they got Original Medicare at 65 but didn’t retire until 70. They would be able to have Guaranteed Issue because they got Original Medicare when they were first eligible and continued their group health plan until retiring.

Medicare Advantage Plans in Wyoming

Medicare Advantage plans are much different than Medigap plans. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average beneficiary has access to twenty-one Medicare Advantage plans in 2018. Unlike Medigap plans where there are only ten options.

This type of plan takes overs your Medicare coverage. Meaning that an insurance carrier is paying for your Part A and Part B coverage, not Medicare itself. In addition to covering your Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans usually include extra benefits such as a Part D drug plan.

Earlier we mentioned that it is harder to use a Medicare Advantage plan than a Medigap plan in Wyoming. This is because Medicare Advantage plans have specified networks in which you must stay while choosing a doctor to see. In states like Wyoming where areas aren’t over-populated with health providers, you won’t have near the options you would in a place such as California.

Working with A Medicare Broker Can Help

If you decide to go with a Medigap plan, that’s easy. Each Medigap plan has the same coverage regardless of the carrier you buy it from (i.e. Plan F with AARP has the same coverage as Plan F with Aetna).

However, you’ll need to review the quoted premiums and average rate increases to decide which company is the most cost-effective. A Medicare broker like Boomer Benefits can easily compare companies side by side to ensure you spend your money wisely.

Choosing a Medicare Advantage plan isn’t as simple. The service our clients love the most about using us for their Medicare Advantage plan is that we do doctor verifications. This allows you to know that you are enrolling in a plan that your doctor accepts. Which is important when you only have a few nearby doctors.

Contact Boomer Benefits today!