MEDICARE BENEFITS: WHAT ARE THEY?

What Are Medicare 'Parts'?

Medicare is insurance that is designed to cover doctor bills, hospital bills, prescription drugs, and other related products and services. Medicare categorizes this insurance coverage into 4 groups, called ‘parts.’
* Medicare Part A: Hospitalization. This covers the hospital’s bills.
* Medicare Part B: Major Medical. This covers doctors’ bills.
* Medicare Part D: Prescription Drug Coverage. This covers prescription drugs.
* Medicare Part C: Medicare Advantage. This covers all the above bills in a managed care plan.

Which Plan Should I Get?

Part A, Part B, and Part D plans are separate plans managed directly by the government (in conjunction with Medicarecare Administrative Contractors who process the bills). Part C is a combined plan managed by a private health insurance company under contract to Medicare.

Part A is free for most people, while Part B and Part D are optional and require you to pay a premium. Part C combines Parts A, B, and D into a single plan for which you pay a premium.

If you only want free Part A coverage (hospital bills) then you would not choose any other plan. However, if you also wanted coverage for doctor bills and prescription drugs, then you might want to buy Part B and Part D as well, or combine everything into a Part C plan.

More Information

For your free booklets on Medicare and its benefits, you can click English or Spanish below:

* Your Medicare Benefits or Sus Beneficios Medicare
* Medicare & You or Medicare y Usted

Note that benefits vary by state and region. For drug and health plan charts for your state or region, go the Medicare & You page on the CMS website, and then scroll down to find your state. You can then download the Medicare & You booklet for your state. You can access this at the link below.

* CMS Medicare & You State Information website

NAVIGATION:

© 2011 Bird Island Partners, LLC