Page 2 - Cover Letter and Medicare evaluation for Dr. Peter Yesawich

• Decide which Medigap plan you want – Plan F, Plan N, or another plan.

• Choose an insurance company to get your policy from. It’s good to call at
least three insurers for current quotes before choosing the company.
When you sign up for a policy, specify that you want it to go into effect
on January 1. The phone numbers of the insurers that sell Medigap
policies in Florida and their premiums are in Appendix B1.

• Enroll in a Medicare prescription drug plan (a stand-alone drug plan). Call
the plan at the number shown on page 4 of your evaluation and in the Rx
drug section below. When you enroll, you will also be enrolling in Part D.

Your COBRA options

You mentioned in an e-mail that you won’t know your COBRA plan’s premiums until January,
but depending on its costs, it could be effective supplemental coverage. As an example,
Medicare does not cover dental care, routine vision care, and hearing aids, but if your COBRA
plan covers these items at a reasonable cost, it might be a good option. And if your COBRA plan
includes “creditable drug coverage,” it could be used in place of the stand-alone drug plan. See
Appendix A1 for more information about how Medicare and COBRA plans coordinate.

Your physicians accept Medicare-approved rates

The three doctors whom you see are listed in Medicare’s provider directory as accepting
Medicare-approved rates. See Appendix A2.

The two Medigap plans compared in your evaluation

Your evaluation compares Medigap Plans F and N (the benefit designs of all 10 Medigap plans
on pages 6-7 of your evaluation). It might help to review some features that all Medigap
policies share (you may already be aware of these). Their strongest point is the flexibility they
provide when you choose providers. There are no networks, and with a Medigap policy you will
be covered when you see any provider who accepts Medicare (as some 99% of doctors and
public hospitals do).

Another strength of Medigap policies is that Medicare, not the insurance company, makes the
coverage decisions. And if Medicare approves a service or treatment, the Medigap insurer must
also cover it, up to policy limits. Because Medicare is more lenient in approving certain
treatments than are insurance companies, Medigap policyholders may in some cases be
covered for treatments that people in Advantage plans may not be (the Advantage plan might
say that the treatment is not medically necessary).

Medigap policies do not cover routine vision/dental care or hearing aids, none of which are
covered by Medicare (although there may be “innovative benefit” Medigap plans in Florida that

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