If you have Original Medicare, you can:

• See any doctor or specialist or go to any Medicare-certified hospital that participates in Medicare.
• Buy Medicare Supplement Insurance (a Medigap policy).
• Get information and rights notices that also direct you how to proceed to resolve issues when Medicare doesn’t pay for your health care.
• Request an appeal of health coverage or payment decisions.

To learn more about these rights on Medicare.gov select here.

The private insurance company providing your Medigap plan:

• Cannot deny you coverage if you have guaranteed-issue rights to buy the plan.
• Cannot deny a claim if your service is covered by Medicare.

Your Medigap insurance company can only drop you if:

• You stop paying your premiums.
• You weren’t truthful on the Medigap policy application
• The insurance company goes bankrupt or goes out of business

To learn more about your rights and protections, read your plan’s membership materials, or call your plan.

To read an overview of your rights on Medicare.gov select here.

You have the same rights and protections as all people with Medicare. You also have the right to:

• Choose health care providers participating in the plan.
• Get a treatment plan from your doctor.
• If you have a complex or serious medical condition, receive a treatment plan lets you directly see a specialist within the plan as many times as you and your doctor think you need.
• Women have the right to go directly to a women’s health care specialist without a referral within the plan for routine and preventive health care services.
• Know how your doctors are paid (When you ask your plan how it pays its doctors, the plan must tell you. Medicare doesn’t allow a plan to pay doctors in a way that could interfere with you getting the care you need.)
• Request an appeal to resolve differences with your plan.
• File a complaint (called a “grievance”) about other concerns or problems with your plan.
• Get a coverage decision or coverage information from your plan before getting services.

To learn more about your rights and protections, read your plan’s membership materials, or call your carrier.

You have extensive rights to have your private information protected and to receive timely information from Medicare, health providers and contractor

At the root of your information protection rights is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA is a federal law that gives you rights over your health information and sets rules and limits on who can look at and receive your health information. The HIPAA Privacy Rule applies to all forms of your protected health information, whether electronic, written, or oral. The HIPAA Security Rule is the part of the law that requires security for health information in electronic form.

By law, you or your legal representative generally have the right to view and/or get copies of your personal health information from these groups:

• Health care providers who treat you and bill Medicare for your care
• Health plans that pay for your care, including Medicare

These types of personal health information include:

• Claims and billing records
• Information related to your enrollment in health plans, including Medicare
• Medical and case management records
• Other records that doctors or health plans use to make decisions about you.

You may incur a cost to receive this information in printed form. You cannot be charged to receive in electronic format.