Medigap market is hot right now

By KENT S. COLLINS

Q: My sister and I have been retired for many years. We share a house to save money. We both have had to go to the hospital in recent months, and the bills that Medicare didn't pay were quite high. A few more hospital trips like that and we will be broke. We want medigap insurance, but the first salesman gave us a hard time. He said we were "too old to understand all the fine print," but we should buy his policy anyway.

We didn't do it.

The second salesman said he was a government employee and had the best policy to buy.

We didn't buy that, either.

I think you need to warn older folks about the fellows trying to sell health insurance. --- Helen and Dorothy

A. The market for medigap insurance is hot. There is money to be made, usually on retirees who have had a serious medical event and come to find that Medicare doesn't pay for it all. Medigap insurance - -- a policy to cover the gaps left by Medicare --- is valuable if you have any assets to protect from the bill collector.

But show the door to any agent who says he works for the government. The government doesn't sell insurance, except for Medicare, and never with an agent. And give the boot to any salesman who says you don't need to read the fine print.

Don't fall for any sales pitch that says "our policy covers everything that Medicare doesn't cover." No medigap policy covers 100 percent of what Medicare doesn't. And balk at canceling a policy you already own in favor of a policy being pushed by a new agent. If an agent claims his policy is superior, ask for a detailed explanation of that in writing, so you can seek advice from others on the matter.

Any agent that gets pushy or demanding or intimidating about selling you a medigap policy should be thrown out and reported to the state insurance commissioner.

Finally, don't pay in cash. Use a check payable to the insurance company, not the agent.

(If you have a question about senior citizen issues, send it to The Senior Forum, c/o the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, Calif., 90053.)

Los Angeles Times Syndicate

n Ann Landers: P.O. Box 11995, Chicago, Ill. 60611.

n Kent S. Collins: P.O. Box 10167, Columbia, Mo. 65205-4002.

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