at a glance
- Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield sells Medicare supplement plans (also known as Medigap) in New York.
- It offers six Medicare supplement plan types: A, B, C, F, F high deductible, and N.
- Costs and plan availability vary based on when you enrolled in Medicare, your location, and your plan of choice.
Medicare supplement plans are a way to enhance the predictability of your healthcare costs. This is because they cover certain out-of-pocket expenses associated with Medicare.
Excellus offers Medicare Advantage and Medicare supplement (Medigap) plans through a partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield.
If you have original Medicare (parts A and B) and live in Excellus’s coverage area in New York, you may choose to purchase a policy.
Keep reading to find out more about Medicare supplement plans from Excellus, including potential monthly costs.
Medicare supplement plan coverage depends on the plan you select. Some examples of potential coverage include the following:
- Part A coinsurance, including hospital costs up to an additional 365 days after your Medicare benefits are used up
- all or a portion of the Part B coinsurance or copayments
- Part A hospice coinsurance or copayments
- coinsurance for skilled nursing facility care
- Part A deductible
- the first three pints blood needed
- up to 80 percent of foreign travel medical care costs
Some plans sold before 2020 covered the Part B deductible as well. However, due to new Medicare rules, you can’t purchase these plans if you became eligible for Medicare after January 1, 2020.
While several different Medicare supplement plan types are available, insurance companies don’t have to offer all of them.
Excellus sells the following six policies:
- Plan A. Plan A is the most basic type of Medigap plan. Coverage mainly helps pay for hospital and hospice coverage.
- Plan B. Plan B covers every aspect Plan A covers, but it also pays for the Part A deductible.
- Plan C. Plan C is a very robust plan. It covers the Medicare Part B deductible, skilled nursing facility care, and foreign travel coverage. But because it covers the Part B deductible, this plan is no longer available to those eligible for Medicare after January 1, 2020.
- Plan F. Plan F is the most comprehensive plan, covering the Part B excess charges in addition to offering all the coverage of Plan C. This plan is also available only to people new to Medicare prior to 2020.
- Plan F (high deductible). A high-deductible plan is a lower cost alternative that doesn’t start paying until you have reached your deductible amount of $2,370 for 2021.
- Plan N. Plan N is slightly different from the other available plans because it requires a copayment for some office visits and emergency room visits. After you’ve paid the copayment, the plan will pay 100 percent of the Part B coinsurance.
Excellus may not sell all six plans in every location it serves.
To find out if Excellus sells a specific plan in your area, enter your ZIP code into Medicare’s plan finder tool. This will allow you to see the available plans in your area.
The monthly premium for an Excellus Medicare supplement plan varies based on your:
- location
- age
- gender
- overall health
You can use Medicare’s plan finder tool to get a premium estimate that’s based on your specific information.
The following are estimated premium ranges from around the Excellus coverage area for a 70-year-old female who doesn’t use tobacco:
| Delhi, NY | Oneida, NY | Waterloo, NY | Syracuse, NY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan A | $139–$266 | $153–$255 | $153–$255 | $158–$255 |
| Plan B | $193–$383 | $205–$383 | $205–$383 | $212–$383 |
| Plan C | $258–$397 | $273–$397 | $273–$397 | $282–$397 |
| Plan F | $242–$469 | $301–$409 | $301–$409 | $304–$409 |
| Plan F (high deductible) | $56–$62 | $53–$62 | $53–$62 | $53–$62 |
| Plan N | $154–$245 | $178–$216 | $192–$216 | $182–$216 |
Medicare supplement plans are intended to reduce the out-of-pocket costs associated with Medicare. They’re also called Medigap plans because they fill in the gaps in paying for healthcare.
Medicare requires these plans to be standardized. For most states, Medicare supplement Plan A covers the same things in New York as it does in California.
Medigap plans are available to you only if you have original Medicare. You can’t have a Medicare Advantage (Part C) plan and a Medigap plan.
Unlike enrolling in Medicare, you can enroll in a Medicare supplement plan at any time. However, the company only has to offer you a plan if you’re in your initial enrollment period or a special enrollment period.
Excellus is a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield that offers Medicare supplement plans in certain counties in New York.
You can visit Excellus’s Medigap website or use the Medicare plan finder tool to find out whether the company offers a Medicare supplement plan in your area that works for you.