For Medicare beneficiaries who became eligible for the program before Jan. United Health Group has the largest number of Medicare Supplemental insurance policyholders in the U. S, covering 43 million people in all 50 states and most U.
The best time for you to purchase a Medicare Supplement insurance plan is during your six-month Medigap open enrollment period. You will get better prices and more choices among Medicare Supplement insurance plans because guaranteed issue laws apply.
If you would like to change your Medigap plan in the future, you are able to do so, but insurance companies can consider your health history when determining your plan options and costs. After that, guaranteed issues laws do not apply, and you could be denied a policy based on the state of your health. However, Puerto Rico, the U. We help educate Medicare beneficiaries on their Medigap options and help them go through the process of reviewing and comparing plans.
We educate you on the best Medicare Plans for your situation, then let you decide. Compare Plans in Your Area. Enter your zip code. What is the best Medicare Supplement plan in ? Best comprehensive coverage: Medigap Plan G Medicare Supplement insurance Plan G offers the most comprehensive coverage, but it is also the most expensive Medigap insurance policy for policyholders newer to Medicare.
People also praised the friendly, helpful reps and describe their experiences as being quick, easy, and a perfect match for their insurance needs. A couple of points to note. By submitting your information online, you're giving your consent for United Medicare Advisors and their subsidiaries to contact you. While this is fairly common in today's internet age, it's still something to note.
If you live in one of those states, you should keep reading further in our reviews. So, while United Medicare Advisors does not show you an online quote, they absolutely deliver the goods with the lowest priced Medicare Supplement Plans we found. This is because of their vast access to both the bigger names in the industry as well as smaller, reputable companies you might not have heard of before. For all these reasons, we give this company our highest rating. Since , Go Medigap has helped more than 35, seniors get the coverage they need to close the gap between what Medicare A and B covers and what it doesn't.
The company is licensed in all 50 states. That means that Go Medigap is a name you can rely on to give you a plan that's right for you. To begin the process of finding a Medicare Supplement Plan with Go Medigap, you'll enter your zip code to ensure that they have providers in your area.
Next, enter your first and last name, your gender and your birthdate. Then, you'll be asked for your email address and preferred contact phone number which gives them - and their "business partners" - permission to call or text you. Finally, click the button to get your quote. Unfortunately, when we did so, we got a message saying that their "quote system had a problem", and that we'd have to call them to get their rates.
Since you typically have to speak with a licensed representative in order to buy a plan anyway, you'd wind up calling them eventually - but it would have been nice to get a preview of what insurance companies and Medicare Supplement Plans would be possible. So, how did Go Medigap do with our standardized quote of a year-old woman in Wisconsin, no tobacco use, looking for Plan G? The first representative we reached wasn't licensed in that state, so he had to pass us along to another agent not a big deal, but worth noting that they said that they didn't have many agents licensed in WI.
As with most of the brokers we evaluated, Go Medigap came up with Aetna as our lowest-priced option and the agent mentioned that United Healthcare would be our best second choice. The whole process took longer than with our first-place broker of Medicare Supplement Plans: we waited more for someone to take our call, we were transferred to a second agent, and that agent wasn't able to pull up our quote as quickly. Otherwise, we wouldn't have known it existed - or, at least, we didn't understand that it did based on what the agent was telling us.
One feature unique to Go Medigap is called Rate Watch: once you're enrolled with any Medicare Supplement Plan, they keep an eye on all of the companies' premiums and let you know if you're going to have a rate increase. After all, just like auto insurance, the company that has the lowest premiums now might not be your best option in a year, and it's nice that someone else can be tracking that for you. At the end of the day, Go Medigap is trustworthy.
Looking at customer reviews on independently-verified sites, we found thousands of 5-star reviews with plenty of compliments for the helpful service received from friendly, well-informed reps and for the great plans and rates they were able to get. Those reviews, along with the stellar track record with the BBB, mean a lot.
Just keep in mind, you may be paying a higher premium than with other companies in our review. Aetna has been around for a LONG time: over years, as a matter of fact. And, as the insurer most often quoted during our process of finding Medicare Supplement Plans, Aetna is an obvious company to consider for your coverage needs. Their online quote feature will definitely provide pricing information for plans in your area.
Unlike many of the broker sites we evaluated, Aetna has no problem with telling you what you might pay. However, the interface was really clunky and didn't give any explanation of the plans or the riders.
We encourage you to use the online quoting as a starting point, with the understanding that you'll still need to call in to get your Medicare Supplement Plan set up. The phone call quoting process went much more smoothly. We were asked for our name, zip code, date of birth and if our Part A and B had already started.
How did it go when pricing out our comparison profile? That matched both the price we were given online and most of the Aetna quotes we got from external brokers. The agent described several features of getting Medigap coverage through Aetna that make them a strong contender, whether you buy directly from them or through one of the referral services in our evaluation. First, rates are guaranteed for 12 months at a time: there are no increases in that year-long period.
Finally, the rep offered information on vision, dental, critical illness supplemental coverage for expenses that might not be covered like adapting a home after a stroke. These plans are not connected to Medicare eligibility: in other words, the younger you are, the lower the premium, and it can be started anytime. This was also the first quote we received that offered to start our Plan G coverage the next day. It may have been possible with others, but Aetna came out and offered a next-day start if we wanted it.
You'll also find hundreds of complaints there on the BBB listing - but with it being such a huge company with so many different types of insurance products, that's not a surprise. And, many of the complaints we read described problems with insurance brokers trying to push people to buy Aetna - which isn't Aetna's fault. We found that Aetna has a solid reputation across insurance agents, which is reassuring too. While it's up to you to determine if you want to purchase your Medicare Supplement Plan directly from Aetna or through a broker that offers additional services, you can be assured that Aetna is likely to give you one of the lowest premiums.
Aetna is a trustworthy provider of Medigap plans. SelectQuote Senior is one of several brokers that refers prospective clients to various insurance companies for Medicare Supplement Plans. Those companies may include Aetna, Cigna, Anthem and Humana; all insurers with whom they partner are at least A- rated. You'll need to answer a series of questions online in order to look at plans through SelectQuote.
These questions include:. From there, you are asked for your zip code, state, first and last name, phone number and email address. It's automatically checked, so be sure to uncheck it if you'd rather not get the guide. Many providers of Medicare Supplement Plans state in their fine print that you're consenting to receiving lots of calls, texts, or e mail when you give them your contact info.
SelectQuote Senior only lists three partners that will have permission to contact you, and they specify that you can call their toll-free number directly if you'd like to speak with them before providing that kind of information. Let's say you go ahead and enter your information. What happens next? If it's during regular business hours, you'll get a call within 15 minutes; otherwise, they'll reach out to you the next business day. Unfortunately, clicking to see our rates just redirected us to those companies' sites - where we had to start the process of entering our information and getting quotes all over again.
We reached out via SelectQuote's toll-free number to get a more accurate idea of the rates for our selected profile: a woman from Wisconsin that just turned 65, no tobacco use, and who was looking for the equivalent of a Plan G. We only had to give the agent our name and zip code to get a quote: no personal details required. After eight minutes on hold listening to an annoying pinging sound like radar on a submarine! After apologizing for the inexplicably long wait, the representative took some basic details like name, state and birthdate.
It also took quite a while for his computer to load any quotes, which may have been due to his working from home. We were then transferred to a second agent after another long hold because his computer wasn't loading quotes for anyone living in WI. At this point, we had already spent 30 minutes on the phone and hadn't even gotten close to a quote yet. The rep was very apologetic.
Fortunately, the second rep called us back, and we were able to get a quote. She too gave us an initial Plan G quote from Aetna, but when we asked her if she was referring to the Aetna Base plus riders to make the Wisconsin coverage equivalent to the Plan G in other states, she said she had never heard that before - and had actually never sold a Plan G supplement in WI. What happens after the coverage has been selected and the premiums have been paid?
SelectQuote Senior will keep in touch on an annual basis, and may touch base throughout the year to see how things are going. They will also reach out to their clients if they get wind of any changes and see if a switch in providers or plans might be a good option to consider.
We appreciate that kind of service; not every Medicare Supplement Plan broker offers it. While it might have just been a temporary technical issue on their end, it's worth noting that the entire process of getting a quote through SelectQuote Senior took the better part of an hour. We found comments from other customers who had the same experience with dropped calls and transfers that went nowhere - over six months prior to our calls to SelectQuote Senior. You might be wondering, then, why this service still gets a relatively high ranking.
We can't overlook the company's overall reputation for quality, shown by their BBB rating and thousands of 4-and 5-star ratings from happy clients on independently-verified sites. We appreciate the service they offer after the policy has been selected, and that all of the partner insurers they use have been vetted as reputable options. If you can get past the technical glitches - and you have the patience for what might turn out to be a long phone call - we recommend that you take a look at what SelectQuote Senior can offer you with respect to Medicare Supplement Plans.
They have a website specifically dedicated to Medicare Supplement Plans, so you don't have to worry about sorting through health insurance information that doesn't apply to you. If you're looking for an online quote, you may have a hard time spotting where to start. The BCBS site for Medigap coverage is full of information you may or may not need: terms to know, enrollment periods, and so on.
From there, it'll take you to another page that asks you to fill in your information to talk to a Medicare Health Benefit Advisor or to call them directly However, if you look carefully, you'll spot links that say Browse or Find a Plan that let you get an initial idea of pricing online before you reach out to BlueCross Blue Shield.
If you already know which Medicare Supplement Plan interests you, choose the first option. If you need some guidance and are willing to answer a few questions, the second choice will walk you through which available plans are a good fit. Since we were interested in getting a quote to fit our designated profile, the year-old female in Wisconsin looking for Plan G coverage, we opted to view all plans. Be sure to click on the tab that says Medicare Supplement Plans, because the page defaults to Medicare Advantage Plans instead.
There, you'll have to enter your gender, date of birth, the date your Part B coverage was effective, and your desired coverage start date. We didn't get an option to start coverage right away, unlike some of BCBS's rivals. The results page is fairly easy to understand.
It clarifies the basic plan and any extra riders you may want to consider. That included all of the riders necessary to equal Plan G coverage in Wisconsin. That's neither the highest nor the lowest premium we found, which was surprising given that BCBS is one of the major players in the Medicare space.
Every other Medicare Supplement Plan provider required a phone call, but BCBS allowed us to create an account and get the ball rolling. You'll need your Medicare card handy, along with any applicable supporting documents like a POA or guaranteed issue notice.
This tells us that their service and customer response can vary greatly by where you live. For states where BCBS is graded highly, you can expect them to respond to questions and complaints quickly.
For states where they have a lower grade, perhaps not so much. On the other hand, we found quite a few experts on Medigap coverage that had positive things to say about BCBS. People tend to like knowing that their insurance comes from a big-name provider, and they offer coverage in enough places to make it likely you can get the plan you're looking for.
And, we really like the fact that you can start your enrollment process online: no need to wait for business hours on a weekday if you're ready to go. Still, we'd like to see their web interface cleaned up and simplified, and some effort made to clean up their BBB ratings. GoHealth started as an insurance marketplace way back in , though they've only been a part of the Medicare market since We also found plenty of positive reviews from clients; though not specific to Medicare Supplement Plans, GoHealth's feedback from customers includes over 9, 4- and 5-star ratings.
In other words, you're not dealing with a fly-by-night service if you decide to work with this business! As with most sites offering Medicare Supplement Plans, GoHealth asks you to first verify your zip code to make sure there are plans in your area.
From there, you'll enter your name, email address optional , and phone number. That does give GoHealth permission to text you or to allow partner businesses to reach out to you on their behalf, so keep that in mind as you decide what information to provide.
Once you submit your information, it gets passed along to one of the licensed insurance agents in GoHealth's network and you wait for a phone call. We would have liked to see more preliminary information on the GoHealth website. For example, it would be nice to see some sample quotes, a list of some of the insurance providers they offer, and so on. Our highest-ranked brokers and companies are a little more transparent, so that if a prospective client wants more details before getting in contact, it's right there.
We had to provide a street address in order to get a quote when we called the toll-free number. There was also a prerecorded message where we had to press 1 to consent or 2 to decline GoHealth using information we provided to contact us. From there, we were transferred to a licensed agent in our state. How did this service do with our quote profile: a newly year-old, non-smoking female in Wisconsin looking for Plan G?
The agent started by asking if we were in a rural area because our "options were limited" for what it's worth, we were not quoting a rural zip code, but rather one in a suburb close to two major metro areas. Then he asked if we had received any quotes from another broker or insurance company.
We gave him the general Aetna quote that seemed to be easily coming up with other providers - and he said we'd probably be better off going that route with another broker. That's comparable to the Aetna quotes we received. But, the whole process was very slow: it took almost 30 minutes to find information that other brokers returned in less than Our representative was friendly and helpful, and seemed just as confused as we were as to why there weren't more options in our area.
GoHealth has a good reputation for quality, and many clients have had a solid experience getting their Medicare Supplement Plans through this service. As one of several insurance providers in our review, Humana offers Medicare Supplement Plans through their own service. Naturally, that means that their coverage is all you'll get if you look for quotes on their site. Fortunately, they have numerous options to choose from. The Humana site made it simple to see which Medicare Supplement Plans were available in our area, for our sample individual a year-old woman in Wisconsin.
We could see at a glance every option - for "her", there were seven - including any applicable deductibles, whether or not dental and vision were added, and so on. There was also a handy "Add to Compare" button to help us keep track of which plans suited us best.
We were then asked to provide the typical details like age, date of birth, etc. It then said, "Part A" and "Part B" month and year; there was no explanation, but we figured out it was asking when those components of Medicare had begun.
We then had to specify a desired start date for coverage; our only options were the following three months. There was also a disclaimer that said the quote was just an estimate, "based on a nonsmoking female who is 65 years old".
We had never specified smoking or nonsmoking, so be aware that your actual premium will vary if you use tobacco. It can get a little confusing from there: because even though you select a single plan for a quote, your results page will show you ALL available plans and their estimated premiums.
On our sample client's results, the plan that was most comparable with what we quoted across insurers was the Humana Med Supp Basic Plan. At that stage of the quote, you can also click on a rate chart: if you're not eligible for a "preferred rate" because you're a tobacco user , you'll be able to see a more accurate premium there.
The good news? You can complete your entire enrollment online. As they say on the following page, "online enrollment is official" and you'll get a packet within business days of completing the application.
That's a perk for anyone who doesn't want to deal with an agent and just wants to get it taken care of - especially outside of traditional business hours. Humana comes across as an expensive-but-reliable option for Medicare Supplement Plans. On the other hand, Humana has hundreds of complaints filed on the BBB site, and doesn't have the most customer-friendly reputation.
In fact, one of the brokers we spoke with while compiling these reviews said that he actively avoids matching customers with Humana because of their negative track record within the market. Is Humana a good choice for your Medicare Supplement Plan?
They're definitely not the least expensive, and it concerns us that they don't have a better reputation within the industry. However, their online quote process is fairly easy to use, and if you want to complete the entire application without having to talk with an agent, Humana could be worth using - to at least get your initial quote, and then decide from there.
Medicare-Plans is a service of QuoteWizard Insurance, which is a division of well-known financial company LendingTree. At the time of our review, QuoteWizard's profile with the Better Business Bureau was being updated, so there was no way to see a rating or any customer complaints if any exist. On the final page, you're asked for your street address and phone number - and then there's the disclaimer that you're consenting to texts, calls, emails, and postal mail from their "marketing and remarketing network, and up to eight insurance companies or their affiliates".
Why Choose a Plan? We follow strict editorial standards to give you the most accurate and unbiased information. Medicare is a great option for seniors. In fact, those 65 and older who qualify for Medicare often cite it as one of the best health plans. In fact, you may need extra insurance , known as Medicare Supplement or Medigap , to fully manage your healthcare issues as you age. Ten basic Medigap policies exist, each with different benefits. Once you have decided the policy that is right for you, find a company that sells it.
This applies to Medicare coverage throughout the country , save for a few states. While the basic benefits are the same for every Medicare Supplement policy, costs vary widely, and some companies offer additional benefits that might make choosing their plans attractive to you.
The rules concerning enrollment and switching plans are complex. Choose a Medicare Supplement plan with your future in mind because you have the best opportunity to get the right plan when you sign up initially. In some metropolitan areas, more than 20 insurance companies sell Medicare Supplement insurance.
Special benefits : Enrollees enjoy gym memberships, nurse helpline, and dental, vision, and hearing discounts. Mutual of Omaha, the second-largest Medicare supplement insurer, launched its Medicare supplement insurance program in , which is the year the Medicare program began. Special benefits : As a mutual company, the enrollees own the company. Special benefits : Plans in some states include some coverage for dental and vision hearing, as well as fitness members and an Ask-a-Nurse service.
All of these may have additional fees. If you choose to buy your Part D prescription drug coverage through the company, it offers deals on mail-order prescriptions.
Anthem Inc. It owns Blue Cross Blue Shield-licensed companies in 14 states and covers million people, more than one in eight Americans.
Special benefits : Anthem Blue offers compatible Part D prescription drug plans and access to affordable dental, vision, and hearing plans. Health Care Services Corp. Each state operates semi-autonomously but adheres to the rules and values of the parent company. HCSC insures 17 million members in these five states. Special benefits : Each state offers separate Medicare Supplement plans, but all operate similarly, offering plans that include access to Part D prescription drug plans and dental, vision, and hearing plans.
Its insurance business serves nearly million customers worldwide and sells Medicare Supplement plans in 48 states and the District of Columbia.
Special benefits : The company boasts about its Healthy Rewards discount program on health and wellness plans, including prescription drugs and dental plans. It also offers a hour health information phone line. Industrialist John D. It specializes in writing a variety of insurance for older Americans, selling Medicare Supplement insurance in 43 states. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts launched 80 years ago.
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