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How Does the Plan N Medicare Supplement Pay?

More than 47 million people in the United States had Medicare in 2010. Original Medicare, Parts A and B, helps seniors pay for inpatient and outpatient hospitalizations, short-term skilled nursing facility stays, home health services, preventive care and hospice care. But Original Medicare also comes with deductibles, monthly premiums, co-payments and coinsurance costs. Many seniors enroll in Medicare supplements, also called Medigap, to help pay these costs. However, sometimes Medigap policies change or completely disappear. In June of 2010, a new Medigap policy, Plan N, was unveiled.

  1. Old Plans

    • Two new Medigap plans, M and N, were introduced in 2010, while four plans, named E, H, I and J, were immediately discontinued. Altogether, the four had benefits to help pay for preventive screenings, the excess doctor charges for Part B Medicare, foreign travel emergencies, the Part A coinsurance for skilled nursing facility care and the Part A hospital deductible. They also carried benefits for prescription drugs. However, when the preventive screening and prescription drug benefit were dropped for Medicare supplements in 2010, E, H, I and J were dropped as well.

    100 Percent Coverage

    • Plan N has some of the same benefits as the discontinued Medigap policies. It offers 100 percent coverage for Part A hospice coinsurance and co-payments, skilled nursing facility coinsurance, the Part A deductible and the Part A hospital coinsurance. It also offers the foreign travel emergency benefit. In addition, Plan N has total coverage for the first three pints of blood you use per year and an additional 365 days of hospital care after all Medicare hospital benefits have been used.

    Cost Sharing

    • Plan N has a benefit for Part B coinsurance and co-payments. It is not actually at 100 percent, though, since it requires its own co-payments. As of 2011, Plan N requires a co-pay of $20 (or $20 for some doctor office visits and up to a $50 co-pay for emergency room visits, if they do not result admission as an inpatient).

    Services Not Covered

    • Plan N does not have all the benefits available through Medicare supplements. It has no coverage at all for the Medicare Part B deductible or Part B excess charges, As of 2011, these can only be bought in plans C, D, F or G. The only Medigap plan that features all currently available Medigap benefits is Plan F. But Plan N's cost-sharing features generally result in lower premiums than other Medigap plans.

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