Medicare Supplement (Medigap) Plan N

• by Christian Worstell
• December 28, 2022
• Reviewed by John Krahnert

Plan N is one of the 10 Medicare Supplement Insurance plans (also called Medigap) that are available in most states. Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan N offers coverage for all but two standardized benefits.

10 percent of Medicare Supplement Insurance plan beneficiaries are enrolled in Plan N.¹

What does Medicare Supplement Plan N cover?

There are nine potential Medicare out-of-pocket costs that can be covered by a Medicare Supplement Insurance plan. Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan N offers coverage for seven of those nine benefits.

Some of the Medicare costs that are covered in full by Medicare Supplement Plan N include:

• Medicare Part A coinsurance and hospital costs
  Part A coinsurance can reach as high as $800 per day for long-term hospital stays in 2023, if you’re hospitalized for an extended period of time (more than 60 days).
  
  
• Medicare Part B coinsurance or copayments
  Medicare Part B typically requires a 20 percent coinsurance payment for covered services.
  
  
• Medicare Part A hospice care coinsurance or copayments
  Medicare Part A often requires a copayment for prescription drugs administered as part of hospice care and coinsurance payments for respite care.
  
  
• Coinsurance for skilled nursing facility stays
  Part A also requires coinsurance payments for inpatient stays at skilled nursing facilities. These coinsurance costs can total $200 per day for days 21 through 100 of a stay at a skilled nursing facility in 2023.
  
  
• Medicare Part A deductible
  Before having to pay any coinsurance, Medicare Part A beneficiaries must first meet a deductible of $1,600 for each benefit period in 2023.
  
  A benefit period begins the day you are admitted to a hospital or skilled nursing facility and ends when you have been out of the facility for 60 consecutive days. You could potentially face multiple benefit periods within one calendar year, and you must meet your Medicare Part A deductible in each benefit period before Medicare begins to pay its share of your costs.
  
  
• First three pints of blood
  Medicare does not cover the first three pints of blood that are used for a transfusion.

The seventh and final benefit area covered by Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan N is emergency care that is received outside the U.S. Medicare only covers such care under very limited circumstances, but Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan N covers 80 percent of the costs for qualified emergency medical care abroad.

Plan N may be a good fit for you

There are only three Medicare Supplement Insurance plans that offer more benefits than Medigap Plan N.

Plan N only fails to cover two of the nine Medigap benefit areas:

• The Medicare Part B deductible
• Medicare Part B excess charges

The Medicare Part B deductible is $226 per year in 2023, which works out to just around $19 per month. If you can find Medicare Supplement Plan N with premiums that are at least $19 cheaper than a plan that covers the Part B deductible, the tradeoff may be worth it for you.

Part B excess charges, which can be as high as 15 percent of the Medicare-approved amount for medical services, are only incurred when you visit a health care provider that does not accept Medicare assignment.

If you avoid health care providers that do not accept Medicare assignment, you may not have to worry about being charged an excess amount.

Shopping for Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan N

Medicare Supplement Insurance is sold by private insurance companies, meaning the cost and availability of plans can differ from state to state.

A licensed insurance agent can help you learn about Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan N and other Medigap plans that may be available where you live. Call to speak with a licensed agent today.

About the author

Christian Worstell is a senior Medicare and health insurance writer with MedicareAdvantage.com. He is also a licensed health insurance agent. Christian is well-known in the insurance industry for the thousands of educational articles he’s written, helping Americans better understand their health insurance and Medicare coverage.

Christian’s work as a Medicare expert has appeared in several top-tier and trade news outlets including Forbes, MarketWatch, WebMD and Yahoo! Finance.

Christian has written hundreds of articles for MedicareAvantage.com that teach Medicare beneficiaries the best practices for navigating Medicare. His articles are read by thousands of older Americans each month. By better understanding their health care coverage, readers may hopefully learn how to limit their out-of-pocket Medicare spending and access quality medical care.

Christian’s passion for his role stems from his desire to make a difference in the senior community. He strongly believes that the more beneficiaries know about their Medicare coverage, the better their overall health and wellness is as a result.

A current resident of Raleigh, Christian is a graduate of Shippensburg University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

If you’re a member of the media looking to connect with Christian, please don’t hesitate to email our public relations team at Mike@tzhealthmedia.com.

 

 

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