People With Medicare

What happens to my coverage?

You can keep your drug coverage if you want to. Most people will save more and get better drug coverage benefits by switching to a Medigap plan that doesn’t offer drug coverage and joining a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.

• If you have Plans H, I or J, these plans are mostly not considered to be as good as the new Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage. So if you decide to keep one of these plans with drug coverage, you will pay a penalty if you decide to join a Medicare drug plan later on.
• If you have a different Medigap policy with drug coverage other than H, I or J, you will not know for sure how much coverage you have until you hear from your Medigap insurance company. Contact your plan to find out if your Medigap drug coverage is considered to be as good as the Medicare drug coverage.

What should I do?

Call your Medigap provider or read the information they send you. Ask if you would save more money by removing drug coverage from your Medigap policy and joining a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.

You can also buy a Medigap policy from a different company, but the new company would do medical underwriting. This means that they would look at your medical history to decide if you could join the plan. They may not let you in the plan. Or they may let you in but make you pay more if you have certain medical conditions.