Will the new ACA law have some kind of Supplement Insurance option to add to Medicare?

[NNN0LHI]

I have a retired friend who doesn't have any health insurance besides his Medicare and he goes to the VA for some things.

Will ACA have offer any type of Supplement Insurance option just to cover the 20% that Medicare doesn't cover for a person like him? I think AARP sells a lot of these Supplement Insurance policies.

Thanks in advance if anyone knows anything about this.

Don

[shraby]

1. I have no idea, but my husband today wanted to ask AARP about the policies they sell and had to

go through a long menu, and when he finally got a person, he asked if he'd have to do that every time he had a question if he bought a policy and the person said yes.
He decided that's not what he wanted after all.
The supplemental policy we have now pays all..no co-pays, no up front money, no nothing. We just get informational bills that show what was charged by the Dr. or hospital and everything is paid.
We have a local agent that we can walk into his office if we have any problems..which we haven't so far, except the cost of the policy goes up every year and we don't like that at all.

[enough]

3. shraby, may I ask a ballpark figure as to what you pay for this coverage?

This sounds like the sort of coverage my parents used to have while they were alive. My husband and I (now on Medicare) have not been able to find anything this comprehensive that is affordable. I'm wondering if you have found that. Thanks.

[CreekDog]

2. "Medigap" insurance has been around for ages

some form of it often exists in other countries with universal health care.

it has a lot of the upsides of insurance without the massive downsides of having it be your primary policy.

[Motown_Johnny]

4. I am fairly certain the answer to that is no.

If it was in the bill/law we would have heard about it by now.

I have gone through the healthcare timeline several times and never seen it mentioned. http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/

I hope I am wrong, and could easily be, but I don't think that the gap in coverage is addressed in the ACA.

[h2ebits]

5. Health Insurance exchange

Perhaps not specifically mentioned in the bill but couldn't the states setting up their health insurance exchange include this type of coverage?

[Motown_Johnny]

6. possibly

but then it would only be available in the states that bother to do that

[cbayer]

7. I haven't seen anything that would prevent companies from offering or

individuals from purchasing medigap insurance. That is currently what many Medicare recipients do.