Ancillary Coverages

Ancillary coverages are coverages in addition to normal medical coverages.  There are many categories of ancillary coverages.  Usually it's Dental and Vision, either standalone or embedded coverages.  Medicare policies are constantly adding a larger variety of coverages.  Some are giveaways, in some form, designed to attract you to purchase the plan.  

If an Ancillary Premium is charged (aka upcharge), the amount depends on what is covered and how it’s covered.   Generally, the premiums are very reasonable.

Dental work is grouped into two major categories: preventive and major.  While preventive is usually lower  cost and comes with low to no premium, major is higher cost.  Major work is what most folks want to cover.  The tendency is to wait until major work is prescribed, panic at the cost, (try to) insure the cost, and then, drop coverage once the work is done.  However.  The insurers are well aware of this and use two defenses to mitigate claims;  waiting periods and reduced liability.  To make ancillary insurance work, one needs to buy as much as one can, as early as one can and keep the policy active.

Vision work is either medical or refractive.  Medical is usually covered by medical insurance.  Refractive is testing the eyes for vision defects and constructing lenses to correct the light so the brain receives a good image.

While eye exams are reasonably priced, lenses and frames are usually not.  And.  Eyes have a tendency to change, so, too, do the lenses. 

Medicare Advantage Plans are adding a breadth of benefits to attract enrollees, none so attractive as cash, in some form, given back to you. 

Credit accounts that let you decide on what you want to spend your allotment on.  Arrangements where the company pays part of your PART B premium for you.    Fitness devices and club memberships.  And so on.   Caution.  This is not how you decide on medical and drug coverage because giving benefits over here usually means higher out of pocket costs over there.