Basic Benefits

• All of the 12 Medigap plans offer basic benefits that include Part A co-insurance, the cost of 365 extra days of inpatient hospital care, Part B co-insurance or co-payment for Medicare-covered services, and the first 3 pints of blood each year.
  
  

Additional Benefits

• If you want coverage beyond the basic benefits, Plans C through L offer skilled nursing co-insurance, Plans B through L cover your Part A deductible, and Plans C, F and J cover your Part B deductible. Part B excess, the amount that doctors can charge over what Medicare reimburses, is covered by Plans F, G, I and J, and coverage for foreign travel emergencies is covered by Plans C through J. Hospice co-insurance or co-payment is offered under Plans K and L.
  
  

Providers

• Once you have looked at the plan benefits and perhaps decided on one or two plans that are of interest, you will find several insurance companies offer each one. These plans are standardized, meaning that each company must offer the exact same benefits, regardless of the cost. Comparison between providers can be made on the basis of cost only or can be based on your personal experience with a particular provider or on recommendations of friends or relatives.
  
  

Pricing

• The prices for Medigap policies are set by the companies themselves and often have little relation to the benefits offered under the plan. For example, Company X may charge a higher cost for Plan A than Company Y charges for Plan C, which has more benefits than Plan A. Payment for Medigap policies is in the form of a monthly premium, with little or no other costs associated with the services that you receive under the plan, for most policies. The exceptions to this are Plans K and L, which have different pricing structures than the other Medigap plans. These plans each have an out-of-pocket limit and costs are shared by customers until the limit is reached, at which point the plan pays 100 percent of the costs. The cost of these plans is lower than plans with comparable benefits.
  
  

Enrollment

• During your open enrollment period when you turn 65, you can enroll in any Medigap plan that you like. The companies cannot take your health status into consideration and cannot refuse you enrollment for any reason. If, however, you choose a less expensive plan with fewer benefits and decide later that you would like to increase your coverage, that may not be possible. At that point, the companies can refuse you coverage based on your current health status or your age.