Medicare Supplements essentially look to Medicare to determine if a benefit is allowed and if a provider (i.e. doctor or hospital) is participating in the network.  There can be a difference in how the Medicare Supplemental plans pay depending on whether a physician accepts Medicare's rates or charges Excess.  By law, a provider can charge up to 15% higher than the standard Medicare rate and still be considered participating.  This is a big deal for two reasons.  First, you do want to pay 15% of a $100K hospital bill ($15,000).  Secondly, as the Medicare program finds itself under more financial pressure, reimbursement to providers will be under pressure.  This means that more providers will likely charge the excess in the future.  This is the sole reason we recommend the F plan over the C plan.  The C plan does not cover Excess where the F plan does cover excess.  For the small monthly premium difference, it makes sense to cover this potential amount.  Keeping that in mind, please look at the following directory. 

Medicare Doctor Network Search

Some carriers apply their PPO networks to Medicare Supplements.  Typically, this only results in a copay situation for physicians up to the Part A deductible. 

It is important to make sure you use in-network Medicare Supplement providers.  To go off the network could result in considerable out of pocket expenses to you. 

If you have a doctor already, sometimes it easier to call the office and ask if they are a participating Medicare provider.  It is also important to make sure that a particular benefit is allowed by Medicare.  If your provider is in network but the benefit is not allowed, Medicare will still not pay out...and nor with the Medicare supplement.