As you may know, all Medicare Supplements are standardized by the Federal Government. There are currently twelve plans, lettered A through L. No matter what company you go to, a plan with the same letter designation is exactly the same. CMS has recently announced changes to the these standards. These changes will apply to plans that are effective on or after June 1, 2010. Here is an overview of the changes.
1. They have added Hospice coverage as a Basic ''Core'' benefit to all plans. This coverage had already been added as a basic benefit in plans ''K'' and ''L''.
2. They removed coverage for "Preventive Care NOT Covered by Medicare" (as in plans E and J). CMS came to the conclusion that Medicare Part B has changed to cover many more preventive services, and the usefulness of this benefit was greatly reduced, covering only part of an annual physical after Medicare covered the initial physical. They also removed the "At-Home Recovery" (as in plans D, G, I and J). They said that this benefit was confusing and difficult to understand and administer, and changes to Medicare had made this benefit less meaningful.
3. They created a new plan D, which is the same as the current plan D except that the "At-Home Recovery" benefit was taken out.
4. They created a new plan G, which is the same as the current plan G except that the 80% "Medicare Part B Excess" benefit is being replaced by a 100% "Medicare Part B Excess" benefit, and the "At-Home Recovery" benefit was taken out.
5. They eliminated the current E, H, I and J plans as they now duplicated existing Plans.
6. They created a new plan M, which is the same as plan D but with a 50% coinsurance on the Part A deductible.
7. They created a new plan N which is the same as plan D with the Part B coinsurance being paid at 100%, minus a $20.00 copay per doctor visit and a co-pay of $50.00 for an emergency room visit, unless the person is admitted to the hospital.
These changes to the Standardized Plans are only for plans with an effective date after June 1, 2010. If you currently have a plan, or purchase one before that date, your plan will remain the same.