Can Telemedicine Improve Medicare Supplement Insurance Care?

Telemedicine isn't for the space station, but it is designed to reach into communities where there's less access to specialists, like in rural areas. Imagine being able to talk to your doctor "face-to-face" without having to go to her office. That means no more hassles of getting wheelchairs in the van, or trying to find streets that have been cleared of snow in the winter to keep your doctor's appointment. If you're in a small town, it can also mean you won't have to journey across the state to see the closest specialist.

What does telemedicine offer you if you're eligible for Medicare? The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has already proposed new policies to increase the use of telemedicine. Seniors and those with disabilities are among those most likely to benefit from the increasing use of technology-delivered medicine.

Mobility often becomes more challenging as we age, but with video conferencing, you can still "see" and talk with your doctor without risking a fall while traveling to a doctor's appointment. Even in rural areas with little access to specialists, Medicare and

Medicare Supplement plans can offer you more healthcare options.

Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans Can Increase Access To Healthcare

You may have heard that our aging population is expected to put a greater demand on the existing healthcare system. With telemedicine, even towns that have trouble attracting specialists will be able to connect you with specialists in urban settings.

As Dr. Debra Lister of Douglas, Georgia explains, "It's so far for our people here to get to a specialist. Some of these people just can't travel - some of our elderly and poor people couldn't have made the trip. An awful lot of them would not have received care."

Thanks to telemedicine, Lister's clinic is typically able to connect patients through video conferencing with a specialist within two months. That's just about half the time it takes to get an in-person appointment with a specialist.

This new access makes Medigap Insurance even more valuable. You probably realize that Medicare doesn't pay for all of your healthcare costs. Medicare only pays for 80 percent of a pre-approved fee for doctor services. Medigap plans not only pick up the remaining 20 percent, but also help when specialists charge more than Medicare's pre-approved payment. With the right Medigap coverage, you could have access to the best specialists no matter how far away their practice is or how expensive their services are.

Telemedicine Offers A Bridge To Improved Care

At the University of Nebraska Medical Center, an interactive video system is bringing Dr. Thomas Magnuson face-to-face with his patients in nursing homes around the state. He can communicate with family members and the staff at the nursing homes in the same way. Magnuson, who's a psychiatrist, says, "We have a lot of isolated places. We just had a big patient population out there that wasn't being seen."

Magnuson uses video conferencing to see and hear his patients just as if he was in the room with them. This technology can link specialists from urban centers with rural doctors and their patients can get the care they need when they need it. Even more remarkable, technology is allowing surgeons to perform "long-distance" operations by using remote-controlled robots.

Many rural hospitals already have some form of telemedicine, but the growth of telemedicine technology is expected to continue. Just as telemedicine is bridging the distance between patients and specialists, Medicare Supplement Insurance is eliminating the financial barriers that have separated people from the healthcare they need.

By Wiley Long - President, MedigapAdvisors.com - The nation's leading independent agency specializing in Medicare Supplemental Insurance plans. Run an instant Medicare Supplement Quote to compare plans and save money.

by Wiley P. Long - January 14, 2011

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