Senior Product Specialist, John Shinn, discusses the importance of knowing about Medicare Assignments.
A Medicare Assignment is when your doctor, provider, or supplier agrees or is required by law to accept the Medicare-approved amount as full payment for covered services. Most accept assignment, but you should always check to verify they do. So why is this important for you to know about? Knowing whether or not your doctor takes assignment is important because if they do, it means that he that he or she agrees to accept Medicare’s payment on Medicare’s approved charges.
When your doctor, provider, or supplier accepts assignment:
- Your out-of-pocket costs can be less.
- They agree to charge you only the Medicare deductible and coinsurance amount. They usually wait for Medicare to pay its share before requesting you pay yours.
- Your claim is directly submitted to Medicare by them and they can’t charge you for submitting the claim.
So you’re only responsible for 20% and Medicare pays 80%. If your doctor accepts assignment, they are agreeing to take Medicare’s full payment. A Medicare Supplement Plan G, or N covers that 20%. All the Supplement plans have different designs. They will cover your hospital and doctor expenses. But it’s important for you to ask your doctor if they take the Assignment, and if they do then you might be able to save a lot of money on your Medicare supplement by just changing the plan.
If you need further assistance understanding Medicare Assignment, feel free to reach out to us here at Empower Brokerage, or visit Medicare.gov.
If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section below.
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