Medigap plans do not generally cover routine dental, vision, or hearing care. However, some Medigap plans offer optional dental, vision, and/or hearing benefits as either 1) Stand-alone coverage, 2) add-ons coverage, or 3) “Innovative Medigap” insurance bundles.
1) Stand-alone dental, vision, and hearing from Medigap providers
As we said before, Medigap does not cover dental, vision, and hearing benefits but some insurance providers can offer them separately. Insurance companies may offer “stand-alone” dental and vision insurance plans that can be purchased in addition to your Medigap policy. With a stand-alone dental plan, you could buy the policy whether you purchased a Medigap policy or not. In our experience, most Medigap companies that offer these typically only focus on dental insurance and rarely offer stand-alone vision or hearing.
2) “Add-On” Dental, Vision, and Hearing from Medigap providers
Some Medigap plans may also offer dental or vision benefits as a rider or “add-on” to the standard Medigap policy. These benefits may provide coverage for routine dental and vision care, such as dental cleanings, eye exams, and eyeglasses. With add-on coverage, you can turn it down but you usually cannot purchase without buying a Medigap plan at the same time.
As with stand-alone policies, we typically see insurance providers only offering optional dental (not vision or hearing) as an add-on during the Medigap application. It’s kind of an “as long as you are here” hope from the insurance provider that you will click the box to add dental as you complete your application. The team here at Senior65.com typically does not recommend adding dental on a whim. There isn’t really an advantage to going with the same dental insurance provider as your Medigap plan. If you want dental, select the insurance provider in your area that has the best stand–alone coverage.
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3) Innovative or Extra Medigap that offer dental, hearing, and vision insurance bundles
The final version we need to review is the dental, hearing, and vision Medigap insurance bundles. In this case, when you purchase the Medigap policy, you get added dental, vision, or hearing whether you want it or not.
A brief history of Medigap insurance bundles
A few years back, Anthem Blue Cross of California started offering a Medigap plan that included bundled hearing and vision coverage. It was called Medigap Innovative F. This Innovative F plan is still available and covers all Medicare Part A and Part B coinsurance, copayments, and deductibles just like all Medigap F plans. In addition, this plan offers additional benefits not typically covered by traditional Medigap plans, including vision, and hearing coverage. These Innovative Medigap plans were very popular and expanded to a few different states and other insurance providers, such as Blue Sheild and HealthNet, started to offer innovative or “Extra” plans that included hearing and vision benefits as well.
Eventually, one plan that we know of, offered a Medigap insurance bundle that includes dental, vision, and hearing. That plan is the Blue Shield Plus plan of Illinois. It is now one of our most popular plans in that state but you must live in the state of IL to purchase it.
Recap of Medigap plans that offer Dental, Vision or Hearing
So while Medicare or Medigap plans don’t cover routine dental, vision, and hearing, you can purchase some of that coverage either as stand-alone coverage, add-on coverage or Medigap Innovative plan bundle. If you need help finding the right coverage for you, please contact the team here at Senior65.com. There is never a charge for our services.