Janie:

Medigap policies are standardized into 10 types (see here. What you are choosing is the type. The company you get it from depends on how you feel about that company (Aetna, etc.)

We have been on medicare for 12 years. When it came time to make a choice about medigap policies, we opted not to do it at all and have never regretted the choice.

We made a list of all of the things covered by any of the 10 types of policies and decided which ones we could not afford to cover on our own. There were only three. One was drugs which are now covered under Medicare Part D which we have. Another was the fact that medicare does not cover you at all if you leave the country. We take care of that by buying medical insurance for each foreign trip we take. It's expensive but way cheaper than a medigap policy. Finally, medicare coverage for hospitalisation ends after 150 days. The worst thing (financially) that can happen to you is to be hospitalized without insurance. We asked several health care providers and it was hard to conceive of a situation in which we would be hospitalized for 150 days without either dying or recovering. It's not impossible (e.g., Cyril Tawney) but it's so unlikely we decided to risk it.

One final note. Medigap advertising is filled with threats about how much medicare does not cover. Just remember two things. First, when you are hospitalized, you pay a deductible of about $1100 and there are no further charges from the hospital no matter what. Second, you are responsible for 20% of other medicare adjusted charges (doctors, labs, etc.) not 20% of what is billed. That's a big, big difference. Jerry has had two spine surgeries for which he was hospitalized over night. Total cost to us for each one was less than $2000 including the hospital, surgeon and all the other bills.

So, look at all 10 types of plans and decide what you can afford to cover on your own. Remember that if an insurance company covers it, you pay for their profit, too

Bev and Jerry