What you need to know about Parts
A, B, C and D
by Dena Bunis, AARP, Updated September 23, 2019
En español |
Think of Medicare as a buffet. You’ll want to choose from it the options that
you can afford and that will meet your particular medical needs.
First you have to decide whether to go
with Original
Medicare or a Medicare
Advantage plan.
If you select to go with Original Medicare,
your buffet will include Parts A and B and probably Part D. If you decide to go
with Part C, a Medicare Advantage plan, it will be more like a sit-down meal,
since a private insurer bundles together parts A and B and most likely D into
one comprehensive plan.
Here are the four basic parts of Medicare that
will cover you for everything from hospital care to doctor visits to
prescription drugs.
Part A — Hospital coverage
When you apply for Medicare, you will
automatically be enrolled in Part A.
It covers hospital stays, hospice care and some skilled nursing care that you
may need after being hospitalized for a stroke, a broken hip or other episodes
that require rehabilitation in a nursing home or other facility so you can get
back on your feet.
Most people don’t have to pay a premium for
Part A. You’ve already paid into the system in the form of the Medicare tax
deductions on your paycheck.
However, Part A isn’t totally free.
Medicare charges a hefty deductible each time
you are admitted into the hospital. It changes every year, but for 2019 it’s
$1,364. You can buy a supplemental or Medigap policy to
cover that deductible and some out-of-pocket costs for the other parts of
Medicare.
Medicare pays for virtually all hospital
services for the first 60 days you’re in the hospital. There are some
exceptions — it won’t pay for a private room, for example.
If you are a U.S. citizen or permanent
resident and have not worked long enough to qualify for Medicare, you may able
to buy into the program by paying a Part A premium.
Part B — Doctors and outpatient services
This part of Medicare covers doctor visits,
lab tests, diagnostic screenings, medical equipment, ambulance transportation
and other outpatient services.
Unlike Part A, Part B involves more costs, and
you may want to defer signing up for Part B if
you are still working and have insurance through your job or are covered by
your spouse’s health plan. But if you don’t have other insurance and don’t sign
up for Part B when you first enroll in Medicare, you’ll likely have to pay a
higher monthly premium for as long as you’re in the program.
The federal government sets the Part B monthly
premium, which is $135.50 for 2019. It may be higher if your income is more
than $85,000.
You’ll also be subject to an annual
deductible, set at $185 for this year. And you’ll have to pay 20 percent of the
bills for doctor visits and other outpatient services. If you are collecting
Social Security, the monthly premium will be deducted from your monthly
benefit.
Part C — Medicare Advantage
If original Medicare is a buffet, Part C is
more like a sit-down meal since a private insurer bundles together parts A and
B and most likely D into one comprehensive plan.
If you decide on a Medicare
Advantage — or MA — plan, you’ll still have to enroll in parts
A and B and pay the Part B premium. Then, in addition, you will have to choose
a Medicare Advantage plan and sign with a private insurer.
The federal government requires these plans to
cover everything that original Medicare covers, and some plans pay for services
that original Medicare does not, including dental and vision care. In addition
in recent years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which sets the
rules for Medicare, has allowed Medicare Advantage plans to cover such extras
as wheelchair ramps and shower grips for your home, meal delivery and
transportation to and from doctors’ offices.
Most Medicare Advantage plans also fold in
prescription drug coverage. Not all of these plans cover the same extra
benefits, so make sure to read the plan descriptions carefully.
Medicare Advantage plans generally are either
health maintenance organizations (HMOs) or preferred provider organizations
(PPOs).
In HMOs you typically choose a primary care
doctor who will then direct your care and usually will have to give you a
referral to see a specialist. PPOs have networks of doctors that you can see
and facilities you can use, often without the need of a referral.
If you go to a provider who is not in the
plan’s network, you likely will pay more.
Part D — Prescription drugs
This is the part of Medicare that pays for
some of your prescription drugs. You buy a Part D plan through
a private insurer.
Each generally has some premiums and other
out-of-pocket costs, either flat copays for each medication or a percentage of
the prescription costs. They also may have an annual deductible.
If you have really high prescription drug
bills, you may be subject to the Medicare coverage gap, commonly known as
the doughnut hole.
Once you and your drug plan have incurred a certain amount of expense for your
drugs, you’ll have to pay no more than 25 percent of the cost of brand-name
prescription drugs and 37 percent of the price of generic drugs.
For 2019, that amount is $3,820. In 2020, the
doughnut hole will be no more, and you'll pay no more than 25 percent of the
cost of both brand-name and generic prescriptions.
If your drug costs continue to mount, you may
reach the point of qualifying for catastrophic coverage. For 2019, once you
have paid $5,100 in medicine costs — just your costs, not what your Part D
insurance plan has paid — you’ll be responsible for 5 percent of the cost for
each of your drugs.
Be sure to check at Medicare.gov whether the plan you’re
considering has the medicines you take on their covered lists — called
formularies. Those lists change from year to year, so it’s important to recheck
your plan every year at open enrollment time — from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, 2019.
Making your decision
Now that you know the parts that make up
Medicare, you’re ready to contemplate your big Medicare decision: choosing
between the two options for getting your medical coverage — Medicare Advantage
(sit-down meal) or original Medicare (the buffet).
Here’s a quick look at the differences between
these options:
• Under original Medicare, you wouldn’t need referrals to see specialists
and you would be covered throughout the United States. The federal government
sets premiums.
You would need to sign up separately for
several plans to be covered for all your medical needs. You’d want to consider
a Part D plan for your prescription drugs and a Medigap plan to help cover your
out-of-pocket costs, such as hospital deductibles and the 20 percent coinsurance
for doctor visits and other outpatient services.
• Medicare Advantage plans provide one-stop coverage, and many also
offer some of those extra benefits explained above. Such plans also typically
have lower out-of-pocket costs than original Medicare and have an annual cap on
out-of-pocket costs, which original Medicare does not have.
Also under Medicare Advantage plans, you’d be
dealing with a private insurer and have to select doctors within a network. So
if, for example, you live in two places during the year, you may not be covered
in whatever place is not your primary residence.
Editor's note: This article, originally
published in 2011, has been updated with 2019 facts and figures.
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