Why Would Doctors Refuse To Take Medicare Supplement Plans?

The big selling point of Medicare Supplement plans - or Medigap plans - is that you can visit any doctor in the country that participates with Medicare. However, many people run into some unique situations where their providers are rejecting their supplement plans. We explain why and how you can fix this in this video.

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⏰ TIME CODES ⏰
0:00 Supplement Denial Problem
0:30 Accepting New Patients
1:18 Healthcare Terminology Issue
3:22 Card Confusion
4:10 Accepted Insurance List
5:30 Smaller Insurance Company
6:16 Large Insurance Company

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#medicare #theretirementnerds #socialsecurity #90daysfromretirement

Federal Disclaimer:

[kathryncashner]

NO doctor has to accept Medicare, but any doctor who accepts Medicare has to accept whatever supplement plan you have. However, billing personnel don't necessarily know what they are doing.

[kathimeci]

Medicare is a huge learning curve. Combine that will misinformed or uninformed medical personnel and it leaves us in a lurch. This video taught me that if my provider accepts Medicare then they must accept my supplement. Valuable information in this world of misinformation. Thank you!

[kennethpurscell]

I found out last year that the desk clerk at my urgent care center entered my Plan G card as primary. Oops! And didn't understand my frustration when the claim was rejected and I complained. After about an hour of (ahem) discussion, she finally rolled her eyes and switched the cards around on my file. Surprise! The claim went through!

[albertwells]

This is the first time I’ve seen this problem addressed. I’ve watched dozens of channels that talk about Medicare, but none of them have ever talked about this. And he breaks it down into elementary English.

[---Joy---]

Doctors are *not* refusing Medigap/Medicare Supplement plans. As long as the Dr. participates in Medicare, they don't care what your supplemental plan is.
Some Doctors & hospitals ARE refusing Medicare Advantage plans, nationwide. I'd be more concerned about that if I was a retired senior.

[Red]

You are exactly correct. And it is confusing, I think it was designed to be confusing so it becomes easier to prey on senior citizens. We are in our 70s with Medicare original with supplemental plan f. We have no desire to ever change after two heart attacks, cancer, and diabetes. Yes, I have been told no by doctors. But I have excellent care by others. My advice to those considering which to choose is Medicare original and buy the most expensive supplement offered. You will need it as you get older.

[MSDOGS]

Off topic but I've got a friend who was seeing a specialist for what he had diagnosed as Crohn's disease. He then turns 65 and they tells him he would need to see a new doctor as the dr doesn't treat medicare patients. So he changes doctors and the new one runs new tests only to find out he didn't have Crohn's but had pancreatic cancer instead. Luckily it was early stage and he had surgery and is doing fine 5 years later. Good thing his old doctor had a no medicare patient policy otherwise he would probably be dead.

[cpa]

Thank you for the information. What a mess our healthcare system. I'm going to try and retire overseas.

[WigsGlam]

Thank you Erik!!! I am so new to trying to understand all this Medicare my head is just spinning🤪🤪🤪🤪

[ioanstokowski]

Love your content. You were born to explain these things. Thanks for clearing that up. Big sigh of relief from me and others I'm sure!

[howardsontz]

This video is perfect proof that you should not believe everything you see on the internet.

[janicelloyd]

G plan has unaffordable premiums for me, I dropped it and pay the uncovered bits myself. Works very well and I save money.

[Mysticislander]

Thanks for the information. Very helpful. 👍🏻

[hogroamer]

Congratulations, beautiful family, too!

[TiredEmpath]

The doctor office submits the claim directly to Medicare and then Medicare submits it to my Supplement Plan. The doctor doesn’t need to have contact with my supplement plan and doesn’t have to like my Supplement plan. The Supplement Plan is for ME to alleviate any additional costs beyond what Medicare pays and determines what I owe. That has been my understanding when I transitioned from a MA plan to Original Medicare earlier this year. I was told that all I needed to show is the Medicare card and Medicare interacts with the Supplement. Am I missing something here? Btw, my doctors participate in Medicare.

[Dottietravels]

Good information and really good thumbnail - it got me to click and watch.

[movdqa]

I had a little time and went to the Social Security website and looked around at the documents and found out that I now have a Medicare number so I can sign up for the Supplement G plan now. They said it would take 2-3 weeks and I was expecting around April 20 but they got it done a lot sooner. I wouldn't know about it if I hadn't gone in and looked though. So I guess it's a good idea to check out the website and the messages and documents. I guess that they don't mail them out by default or it takes a long time to get them.

[Cleverconveyence]

I work customer care for a carrier that sells advantage and supplement and let me tell you, this **** happens all the time. Especially with outpatient labs, radiology outfits, EMS. No idea why. But ive had to help bewildered senior navigate billing IVRs to talk to a person so we can tell them it's not a gd HMO OR PPO

[WhittyPics]

My understanding is the doctor's office doesn't work with your supplement plan at all. When Medicare pays your claim, they are the ones that submit the rest to your medigap company.

[wholeNwon]

This is off topic but my own physician (double-boarded, Hopkins-trained) will not accept any Medicare Advantage insured pts. unless they are already established pts. The problem for him are their strenuous efforts to deny pts. appropriate diagnostic procedures and medical/surgical care.