Medicare Supplemental Insurance Quotes - Medicare Supplements Made Easy

History of Medicare

There are many differences between the Medicare Supplemental Insurance plans sometimes referred to as "Medigap" policies. The main differences are between the benefits offered under the individual plan and the pricing or premium that goes along with it.

The Medicare program was passed into law on July 30, 1965. Soon after that, private insurance companies began underwriting what is now known as Medicare Supplemental Insurance. This insurance was designed to work with the new Medicare program and fill in some of the coverage gaps that were normally left for Medicare beneficiaries to pay. So, it was designed to keep Medicare as the primary health coverage and the Medicare Supplement acts as "secondary" coverage. The Medicare Supplement basically wraps around your Medicare and fills in the different gaps, co pays and deductibles you see.

Over the years more and more private insurance companies began to come out with their own versions of the Medicare Supplements. Every company offered different types of Medicare Supplement plans with different benefits. This made it very difficult to compare coverage for people when they were shopping these plans.

Finally in 2003, the Medicare Modernization Act was signed into law by President Bush.

One of the many things this Act did was standardize the Medicare Supplemental Plans offered through private insurance companies. So every insurance company is now required to offer the exact same coverage through each plan. This was done by putting the Plans into a letter system that now goes from Plan A through Plan N. So every insurance company is required to offer the same coverage for Plan C as the other. The main difference then is the premium. While every insurance company offers the same plans, the pricing can vary greatly.

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