My parents have medicare parts a and b plus a supplementary insurance, should they be receiving a bill?

Retired and living in florida, when you visit the physician's office and they are a medicare provider, are they allowed to bill you or are they to accept what medicare provides?My parents have medicare parts a and b plus a supplementary insurance, should they be receiving a bill?
The physician needs to accept the Medicare discounted amount . Meaning: if the physician normally bills $60 for a procedure but Medicare only allows $40 for the procedure, then the doctor's office can only collect a total for that procedure. The physician writes off the remaining $20.





However, the physician doesn't collect the whole $40 from Medicare. Part B would pay 80% of that, or $32. (After the Part B deductible was met for the year, of course.)





This leaves $8 that the physician is still entitled to collect from someone. (The original $40 allowed - the $32 paid by Part B.) If a person has a supplement, then this $8 is considered by the supplemental policy...which is a private policy, not actual Medicare.





Whether or not any of the balance falls to the patient depends upon the benefits of the supplemental policy.





If the supplement covers 100% with no deductible, then the supplement pays the $8 and the patient doesn't owe anything.





If the supplement has 80% coverage, then the supplement pays $6.40. This leaves $1.60 as patient responsibility.





So...if you want to know whether your parents should still be receiving bills for any of their services, you need to find out what level of coverage their supplement offers. Does it have 100% coverage? Or is it a lesser level of coverage? Even if your parents do still receive bills, they should be minimal.





P.S. Is it a true Medicare supplement, or is it a retirement plan through an employer that's secondary to Medicare? There is a difference. Medicare supplements only provide coverage for services that Medicare allows. Retirement plans through former employers offer whatever benefits happen to be on that plan, which can include items that Medicare normally doesn't cover.My parents have medicare parts a and b plus a supplementary insurance, should they be receiving a bill?
MediCare has a 20% co-pay for nearly everything.





if your parents' supplementary policy doesn't cover all of that, yes they get a bill. and yes, many physicians in FL now expect payment in advance on co-pays ... it is a lot cheaper to handle the accounting if there are no bills to send out.
To answer your question honestly it depends on one the medicare supp policies they have, and the health care providers office. What I would suggest is to simply speak with their physician or billing office. Ask if they are accepting ';assignment'; for parents medicare, assignment is where the doctor basically accepts your parents medicare. For example if person x went to the office z, then the government would offer to pay office z a flat fee for the services performed, sometimes Doctors will refuse the fee and charge the patient. If they are not then what you need to do is find an office that will accept assignment. As an insurance agent I would honestly tell you, if you have questions do NOT be afraid to contact their agent, and ask questions. I would also recommend that Mutual of Omaha has good supp policies, if you have any other questions please feel free to contact me via email, and as always good luck!
Yes, they can bill you.





Medicare pays 80%. You pay 20%.





The supplement may not pay the entire balance. You'd need to call and check. Make sure both medicare %26amp; the supplement have received %26amp; paid their portions before they pay anything.
The whole reason people get a Medicare supplement is to cover the portion of medical bills that Medicare A and B do not cover.





However, some Medicare Supplements do not cover everything....their are several levels of plans...with different costs....so it is possible that your parents are still responsible for a portion of the cost.





The right thing for your parents to do would be to:


1. Ask the private Med Sup company for an explanation


2. Ask the Doctor's Office for an explanation


3. If that isn't helpful, go to medicare.gov and contact them for help. If they think something is wrong, they will check it out.





If they aren't happy with their Medicare Supplement, they may want to compare health insurance:
They should be receiving a bill for any copayments.