Nevada Medicare Advantage Plan

A Nevada Medicare Advantage plan is available in many areas. If you purchase one of these plans, you don’t need a Medigap policy. These plans include:

• Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO)
• Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO)
• Private Fee-for-Service Plans
• Medicare Special Needs Plans
• Medicare Medical Savings Account Plans (MSA)

When you join a Nevada Medicare Advantage Plan, you use the health insurance card that you get from the plan for your health care. In most of these plans, generally there are extra benefits and lower copayments than in the Original Medicare Plan.

However, you may have to see doctors that belong to the plan or go to certain hospitals to get services. To join a Medicare Advantage Plan, you must have Medicare Part A and Part B. You will have to pay your monthly Medicare Part B premium to Medicare. In addition, you might have to pay a monthly premium to your Nevada Medicare Advantage Plan for the extra benefits that they offer.

If you join a Medicare Advantage Plan, your Medigap supplement policy won’t work. This means it won’t pay any deductibles, copayments, or other cost-sharing under your Medicare Health Plan. Therefore, you may want to drop your Medigap policy if you join a Medicare Advantage Plan. However, you have a legal right to keep the Medigap policy.

Medicare Health Plans (like HMOs and PPOs) These plans are approved by Medicare and run by private companies. When you join one of these plans, you are still in Medicare. Some of these plans require referrals to see specialists. They provide all of your Part A (hospital) and Part B (medical) coverage. They generally offer extra benefits, and many include prescription drug coverage. These plans often have networks, which means you may have to see doctors who belong to the plan or go to certain hospitals to get covered services. In many cases, your costs for services can be lower than in Original Medicare, but it is important to check with the plan because the costs for services will vary.

Medicare Prescription Drug Plans These plans add prescription drug coverage to Original Medicare, some Medicare Cost Plans, some Medicare Private Fee-for-Service Plans, and Medicare Medical Savings Account Plans.

Medigap (Medicare Supplement Insurance) Policies These policies help pay some of the health care costs that Original Medicare doesn’t cover. If you are in Original Medicare, you could get a Medigap policy to help cover the extra health care costs.

Private Fee-For-Service (PFFS) Thisplan is a Medicare Advantage (MA) health plan, offered by a state licensed risk bearing entity, which has a yearly contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to provide beneficiaries with all their Medicare benefits plus any additional benefits the company decides to provide. One major difference between a PFFS Medicare Advantage Organization (MAO) and other MAOs is that, in most cases, people who join a PFFS MAO are not required to use a network of providers. Beneficiaries can see any provider who is eligible to receive payment from Medicare and agrees to accept payment from the PFFS MAO.

Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

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