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If your mobility is severely challenged, either by an injury or a debilitating disease which leaves you hard of walking, or even hard of standing in place for extended periods of time, and you are looking into Medicare, Medigap, and Secondary wheel chair Insurance to help you defray the costs of a mobility device such as a Medicare wheel chair or Medicare power wheel chair, then you are reading the right information. In this article we will list two options for a Medicare supplemental plan, either Medigap, or Secondary insurance. We will point out the differences and similarities between the two. By the time you finish reading you should have a better information that can help you decide whether you should get Medigap or Secondary insurance to help you if you are facing copayments, coinsurances and deductibles that Medicare by itself does not pay for.

Medicare Alone

Part B of Medicare requires from you an application for reimbursement of the costs of the power wheel chair, which includes the "certificate of medical necessity" signed and dated by your doctor. When the application is approved, you will receive 80% of the cost of a power wheel chair after deductible.

As an example, let's say the power wheel chair cost $2,000. The Medicare deductible is $155 at this time, so your out of pocket cost is $155 + 0.20 * ($2,000-$155), which amounts to your out of pocket expense of $524.

Medicare Plus Medigap

There are ten different Medigap programs which are federally regulated and therefore have the same benefits in all US states. Medigap supplemental insurances are administered by local insurance companies which can compete on the price of these benefits. Again, the benefits must be the same. Most of the Medigap programs will cover the 20% coinsurance, but will not cover your deductible. So in that case your out of pocket cost for a $2,000 power wheel chair from the above example would be $155. A few Medigap programs will cover both the coinsurance and the deductible, bringing your total out of pocket cost for your power wheel chair down to $0.

Medicare Plus Secondary Insurance

Medicare Secondary Insurances are not regulated federally, so they can be designed differently by individual insurance companies. Because of that, it is difficult to estimate whether they would pay more or less than Medicare Plus Medigap. Most likely, secondary insurances would contribute to the power wheelchair purchase if Medicare contributes. You would have to go through the "coordination of benefits" process with the wheelchair insurance company. Be sure to ask about the details when you are purchasing the Medicare secondary policy.

Caveat: Another, more subtle difference between Medigap and Medicare secondary insurance for a wheelchair is the fact that Medicare itself has fixed prices on certain types of mobility equipment such as Medicare power wheel chairs. There may or may not be such limitations with secondary insurances for a wheel chair. So in case of you needing an expensive power wheelchair (and the costs of those may go up to $8,000 and more), a Medicare plus Medicare Secondary Insurance combination might serve you better than Medicare plus Medigap.

For more information on all ten possible Medicare Medigap insurance programs and their schedules for Medicare power wheelchair reimbursement, please see this site: Supplemental Medicare Coverage.

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