“Dear Steve,
I have medicare & medicare gap coverage. Have filed for bankruptcy & discharged. If I were to mention to them I had filed, (just in case). Would that have an impact on my gap premium. In other words, how do they look at it. That you’re debt free & have extra money or otherwise. Because if I were to need to extra help from the state & or federal gov., from what perspective would they look at it. Thanks
Lee”
Dear Lee,
According to Medicare, a previous bankruptcy is not a consideration in Medigap policies.
These type of policies are priced using:
- Community Rated (No Age Related) – The same monthly premium is charged to everyone who has the Medigap policy, regardless of age.
- Issue Age Related – The premium is based on the age you are when you buy (are “issued”) the Medigap policy.
- Attained Age Related – The premium is based on your current age (the age you have “attained”) so your premium goes up as you get older.
Other factors that might impact the premium would be if the policy required medical underwriting, you purchased a high deductible option, or a Medicare SELECT policy that required you to use only specific hospitals or doctors.
I’m not sure if you’d even be asked the question and from my research, even if you were I can not find any evidence it would either be relevant or a factor.
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
You are not alone. I'm here to help. There is no need to suffer in silence. We can get through this. Tomorrow can be better than today. Don't give up.
Do you have a question you'd like to ask me for free? Go ahead and click here.
