Medicare Supplement Insurance and Seniors
According to the article “Overhaul of Health Care Bad for Seniors” by John Fanning on summitdaily.com, many senior citizens are losing their health insurance coverage in 2010 as many insurers have reduced medicare supplement plans or have increased premiums drastically.
Many seniors are currently struggling to get by and paying for health insurance is just another worry on their plate. If the current health care bill passes in Congress, advantage plans may be dismantled and seniors will need to find a prescription drug plan for MedicareD. This can add an additional $25-$50 to the cost of their health care. With many senior citizens living off of only social security this can be disastrous, especially since there is no SS increase for 2010.
Over 12 million Medicare benficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage Plans which represents 23% of the total Medicare population. Many use Medicare supplement insurance as well. Medicare pays about 11% more for a beneficiary to have a Medicare Advantage plan than for original Medicare on average.
