What is Original Medicare?

Original Medicare is part of the federal program that provides health insurance for those age 65 and older and those with certain disabilities.

It’s administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS for short.

Original Medicare includes Part A and Part B coverage.

While on Original Medicare, beneficiaries can see any provider that accepts Medicare.

It’s important to note, as we’ve mentioned in other modules, Original Medicare doesn’t cover everything.

Services that are not covered by Original Medicare are referred to as out-of-pocket costs.

Those out-of-pocket costs change from year to year.

We’re linking to a PDF of the current out-of-pocket Original Medicare costs for agents to reference.

You can find it in the resource section below this video.

We recommend keeping that info on hand for easy reference during appointments.

One last thing about Original Medicare, agents do not sell it.

However, it does mark the first decision a consumer makes when joining Medicare, and it almost always presents an opportunity for a sale.