Important Reasons For Retirees To Buy Medicare Supplement Plans

When you retire, you may lose access to your employer-subsidized health coverage. Instead, you are issued a Medicare policy after you begin drawing on your Social Security benefits.

If you are newly retired, it can be easy to assume that Medicare will offer you similar coverage to what you had from your employer-subsidized health insurance. However, because it often fails to pay for a significant portion of your medical expenses, you need to invest in one of the Medicare supplement plans that are available to retirees like you.

Frequent Medical Visits

Medicare supplement plans can be worthwhile investments for people who visit their doctors frequently. If you have a chronic health condition, such as Type II diabetes or heart failure, you may need to visit with your physician or specialists every few months, if not more often.

Medicare alone may not pay for a large portion of the costs of these visits, however. Without coverage to back up your Medicare policy, you may be left with huge medical bills to pay.

Instead of straining your retiree budget and possibly even going into serious debt, you can take out one of the Medicare supplement plans that are available to you. The plan that you subscribe to can pick up the remaining costs from doctors' visits and spare you from incurring hundreds or thousands of dollars in medical debt.

Prescription Costs

Medicare alone likewise may not pay for all of your prescription costs. It may cover some generics and essential medications like antibiotics. However, it may not extend to specialized medications, such as insulin or steroids. 

Instead of paying for the costs of your prescription medications out of your own bank account, you can buy one of the Medicare supplement plans that can pick up most or all of your prescription expenses. This plan can give you access to medications that may have been impossible to afford with Medicare alone. It may also pay partially or entirely for supplies like ostomy bags, catheters, and glucose monitors, as well as mobility devices like wheelchairs or walkers.

Finally, some Medicare supplement plans may extend coverage to services like vision and dental treatments. Medicare typically does not pay for dental and vision care for retirees.

Medicare supplement plans can provide you with coverage that you need to remain healthy during retirement. It can pick up costs from frequent medical visits, prescriptions, and dental and vision treatments.