Why Do You Need Supplemental Insurance With Medicare? 
Medicare supplement plans and Medicare Advantage plans were developed for a very simple reason . Medicare does not provide 100 % coverage for health care services and does not cover some services at all . Medicare is a creature of the early 1960 's and people over age 65 at that time on average only had several more years of life expectancyplus there was a lot less that the health care system could do for peopleback then . These factors have changed significantly 50 years later with seniors living longer , more active lives and with a multitude of medical and pharmaceutical treatments available to them . If you are becoming eligible for Medicare today , there is a very good chance that over the remainder of your life you will have multiple opportunities to utilize services under Medicare for which you will have to share financial responsibility -LRB- e.g. - hospitalizations -RRB- and it is almost impossible to become a senior citizen in America these days and not be on one or more prescription medications -LRB- prescription coverage for seniors on Medicare did n't even really exist until Medicare Part D was created by the Bush Administration in 2003 -RRB- . It is to protect yourself against these out-of-pocket expenses that people purchase Medicare supplemental coverage that fills in most of the gaps in Medicare 's coverage . 