Washington DC Medicare & Medigap Information

Medicare varies from state to state. Even though all Medicare providers are regulated administered by the Federal government in what they offer, they are not required to offer all of the available programs. You should be aware of what is available through Medicare before investigating the various health insurance policies for seniors in order to make the best choices for your situation.

Standard Medicare Part A is automatically started for you. There are no forms to fill out or companies to inquire. You will simply receive your Medicare card in the mail. This is a very basic Medicare plan that the Federal government issues to all of its Medicare age recipients. It has deductibles and co-payments and only covers the most elementary of health care.

Medicare Part B is an enrollment program that you must request. You get Medicare Part B from your Medicare office and it will be attached to your existing Medicare Part A plan. This extended coverage helps a lot but unlike Medicare Part A the extended Part B is not free. These plans have monthly payments that will always be deducted automatically from your regular social security income. Medicare Part B also has these deductibles and regular co-payments but offers more coverage than Part A. Neither Medicare Part A nor Part B includes prescription medicine costs.

Once you have Medicare Parts A and B from Medicare you can decide if that is enough coverage for you or if you need more senior health insurance. This is definitely a time in your life when you don't want to skimp. You deserve to have the peace of mind that you have the services available to you to keep you as healthy as possible in order to enjoy your life to the fullest and also, to protect you and your family in case catastrophic illness does strike.

Many private insurance companies offer extra coverage specifically for Medicare recipients. These policies are called Medicare Part C, which is sometimes called Medigap that provides more diagnostics, deductible and co-payment coverage as well as includes Medicare Part D the all important prescription coverage.

If you do not feel the added expense of Gap coverage is necessary you can get Medicare Part D by itself from most private medical insurance companies.