Darin Weidauer, licensed insurance agent · NPN 18580338National number (424) 295-0627 · darinweidauer@ecos.care
Supplemental Coverage

Hospital Indemnity Insurance

A Medicare Advantage plan can leave you with a daily co-pay every time you are admitted. Hospital indemnity pays you cash for those days — directly, to spend on whatever the bill actually is.

Call (424) 295-0627 Ask for a quote

Read this first

This is a supplement to health insurance and is not a substitute for major medical coverage.

Why people buy it

The problem it solves

Most Medicare Advantage plans charge a co-pay per day for an inpatient stay, often for the first five to seven days. A week in hospital can therefore cost well over a thousand dollars out of pocket, and it arrives with no warning and no payment plan.

Hospital indemnity is the oldest answer to that problem. You choose a daily benefit amount and a number of days. If you are admitted, the insurer pays you that amount per day, in cash, regardless of what your health plan pays and regardless of what the hospital charges.

How it works

Three things happen, in this order

You pick the daily amount and the number of days

The benefit is designed to match the co-pay structure of your health plan, so look at your plan's inpatient co-pay before choosing.

You are admitted to hospital

The trigger is admission, not diagnosis. Whether the stay is for a fall, a cardiac event or surgery does not change the benefit.

The insurer pays you, not the hospital

The money is yours. Most people use it against the co-pay, but nothing requires that — it is equally valid spent on the drive home, the prescription or the time your spouse took off work.

Honest fit

Who this suits, and who it does not

The second list matters more than the first. An agent who only writes the first one is selling, not advising.

Worth considering if…

  • You have a Medicare Advantage plan with a per-day inpatient co-pay, and you have looked at the number and did not like it.
  • You could pay a large hospital bill if you had to, but doing so would mean selling something or dipping into money you had earmarked for something else.
  • You want a benefit that pays cash rather than one that negotiates with a provider network on your behalf.

Probably not for you if…

  • You have Original Medicare with a Medigap policy that already covers the Part A deductible and coinsurance in full. You would be insuring a cost you do not have. Ask which Medigap plan you hold before buying anything.
  • You are looking for something to replace major medical coverage. This is not that, cannot be that, and the policy says so in capital letters.
  • You expect it to cover outpatient care, doctor visits or prescriptions as a general matter. The base benefit is tied to hospital admission; the riders extend it, but the core product is narrow on purpose.
Companies

Who we can place this with

Darin is appointed with each of these companies and can place coverage with any of them. We do not represent every insurer, and which company suits you depends on your age, your state, your health history and which benefits you actually want. Where a carrier's benefits are described on this page, those details come from that carrier's own current brochure.

Guarantee Trust Life (GTL)

Advantage Plus® Elite

Every benefit below is transcribed from GTL Advantage Plus Elite brochure GAD22.1-24 (Rev. 8/25) 15B665. Benefits, amounts and riders vary by state; the policy issued to you governs.

  • Hospital confinement Included

    A daily cash benefit if you are hospitalized for a 24-hour period, as observation or confinement. Base plan choices of 1 day (up to $2,500 daily) or 3 to 15 days (up to $990 daily). Restores in full, an unlimited number of times, after 60 days with no hospital confinement.

  • Short duration hospital stay Included

    Pays the chosen daily benefit if you are admitted and discharged between 6 and 24 hours. 25% of the daily amount on the 1-day plan.

  • Emergency room Included

    $150 if you are treated in an emergency room, emergency care or urgent care facility after an accident or injury. No hospital admission needed.

  • Mental health Included

    $175 per day for up to seven days of hospital confinement for a mental or nervous disorder. Paid in place of the confinement benefit, not on top of it.

  • Skilled nursing facility rider Optional rider

    Option 1 pays $100–$300 per day for days 1–50; Option 2 pays the same for days 21–100. Either requires a three-day hospital stay first, with admission within 30 days. Restores after 60 days with no confinement.

    Not offered by GTL in Minnesota. Option 2 (days 21–100) is additionally unavailable in MD.

  • Cancer lump sum rider Optional rider

    $2,500 to $20,000 on a cancer diagnosis, including 25% for cancer in situ and $500 for basal or squamous cell skin carcinoma.

    Not offered by GTL in Minnesota. Waiting period: 30 days in most states (none in MD).

  • Recurrence rider Optional rider

    Restores the cancer lump sum over time — 10% after one year without recurrence, rising to 100% after five.

    Not offered by GTL in Georgia, Minnesota.

  • Ambulance rider Optional rider

    $50 to $400 per ground or air ambulance trip to or from a hospital. Once per day, four times a year, 12 trips lifetime. No confinement required.

  • Outpatient therapy rider Optional rider

    $50 a day for outpatient physical, occupational or speech therapy, up to 15 or 30 days a year. Chiropractic therapy $50 a day up to 5 days a year, for injury due to accident.

  • Outpatient surgical rider Optional rider

    $250, $500, $750 or $1,000 for a surgical procedure in an ambulatory surgical center or outpatient hospital facility, up to twice a year.

  • Lump sum hospital rider Optional rider

    $250, $500 or $750 toward a lump sum hospital co-pay, on top of the daily benefit. Once per confinement, restoring after 60 days.

    Not available with the 1-day benefit period.

  • Guaranteed purchase option with wellness rider Optional rider

    Increase the confinement benefit by 10% of its original amount up to five times before age 85, at issue-age rates, with no further underwriting. Includes $100 a year for a physical examination.

    Waiting period: Wellness: 30 days in most states (none in MD).

  • Critical accident rider Optional rider

    After an emergency room visit, a lump sum by injury: accidental death $5,000 or $10,000; hip or skull fracture $1,250 or $2,500; hip dislocation $1,000 or $2,000; knee dislocation or ligament tear $500 or $1,000; other fracture $250 or $500.

    Waiting period: 30 days in most states (none in MD).

  • Dental and vision rider Optional rider

    Up to $400, $800 or $1,200 a year for a licensed dentist, ophthalmologist or optometrist after the first year, including $200 toward prescription glasses or contact lenses.

    Not offered by GTL in Georgia, Minnesota, Tennessee. Waiting period: 3 months.

Issue ages
Guaranteed issue for ages 64½ up to age 75 in most states
Underwriting
Simplified underwriting with instant approval
Renewability
Guaranteed renewable for life while premiums are paid on time. Premiums change only on a class basis within your state.
Pre-existing conditions
Benefits are not paid for a pre-existing condition unless the loss begins more than six months after your effective date. (No pre-existing condition limitation in NC.)
Policy form
G2150. Rider forms RG21ASB, RG21CA, RG15CLS, RG15CLSR, RG15DV, RG21LSH, RG21OPS, RG21OPT, RG21SNF, RG21SNF-EP, RG24GPO, RG24W. Form numbers and benefits vary by state.

Required disclosures from GTL

THIS IS A SUPPLEMENT TO HEALTH INSURANCE AND IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR MAJOR MEDICAL COVERAGE. LACK OF MAJOR MEDICAL COVERAGE (OR OTHER MINIMUM ESSENTIAL COVERAGE) MAY RESULT IN AN ADDITIONAL PAYMENT WITH YOUR TAXES.

Policy series G2150 is a limited benefit health insurance policy. It is not a Medicare Supplement policy or certificate, and does not fully supplement any federal Medicare health insurance. If you are eligible for Medicare, you may review the Guide to Health Insurance for People with Medicare available from GTL.

GTL and their licensed agents are not connected with or endorsed by the US Government or the Federal Medicare Program.

Also appointed

Also appointed, with benefit details not yet published here: the companies listed here. Ask and we will quote them alongside the others.

  • Aetna
  • Manhattan Life
  • Mutual of Omaha
  • Aflac

We publish no benefit detail for these companies here because we hold no current brochure for them in this product family. Naming a benefit we have not read would be a guess, and a guess is what gets a claim denied.

Where we can place it

Availability in your state

Insurance is regulated state by state. A company may file a benefit in one state and not in another, which is a large part of why working with more than one company matters.

Availability by state, in full

The right-hand column lists what is not offered in that state by any company whose benefits are published on this page. We are appointed with other companies in this family as well — where something is withheld here, ask, and we will check them for you.

StatePublished benefits not offered there
ArizonaNone — everything on this page can be placed here
CaliforniaNone — everything on this page can be placed here
ColoradoNone — everything on this page can be placed here
FloridaNone — everything on this page can be placed here
GeorgiaRecurrence rider, Dental and vision rider
HawaiiNone — everything on this page can be placed here
IndianaNone — everything on this page can be placed here
MinnesotaSkilled nursing facility rider, Cancer lump sum rider, Recurrence rider, Dental and vision rider
NevadaNone — everything on this page can be placed here
New MexicoNone — everything on this page can be placed here
North CarolinaNone — everything on this page can be placed here
OhioNone — everything on this page can be placed here
South CarolinaNone — everything on this page can be placed here
TennesseeDental and vision rider
TexasNone — everything on this page can be placed here
UtahNone — everything on this page can be placed here
WashingtonNone — everything on this page can be placed here

ECOS is licensed in seventeen states. Medicare guides: Arizona · California · Colorado · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Indiana · Minnesota · Nevada · New Mexico · North Carolina · Ohio · South Carolina · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Washington.

Straight answers

Questions people actually ask

Is hospital indemnity insurance the same as a Medicare Supplement?

No. A Medicare Supplement, or Medigap, pays your share of what Original Medicare approves, and it pays providers under Medicare's rules. Hospital indemnity pays you a fixed cash amount per day in hospital, no matter what any other plan pays. They solve different problems, and people with comprehensive Medigap coverage often do not need hospital indemnity at all.

Does it pay if my health plan already paid?

Yes. A hospital indemnity benefit is paid regardless of any other coverage you hold, because it is not reimbursing a bill — it is paying a fixed amount triggered by your admission. That is the whole design. It is also why the money arrives as cash to you rather than as a payment to the hospital.

What does it cost?

It depends on your age, your state, the daily benefit you choose, how many days you cover and which riders you add, so there is no single number worth quoting. Rates are set by the carrier and filed with your state's insurance department. Ask for a quote against your actual plan's co-pay and you will get a real figure rather than a range.

Will I have to answer health questions?

Usually a few, and some products are guaranteed issue within a certain age band. Underwriting differs by carrier: one may decline what another accepts, which is a practical reason to work with someone appointed with more than one company. Answer every question accurately — a policy issued on a wrong answer may not pay when it matters.

Ask for a quote on Hospital Indemnity Insurance

Tell us how to reach you and which state you are in. A licensed agent calls back, usually the same business day, and will tell you plainly if you already have coverage that makes this unnecessary.

ECOS Medicare Solutions is not connected with or endorsed by the United States government or the federal Medicare program. This is a solicitation of insurance. A licensed insurance agent may contact you.

Other coverage that pays you cash

Cancer and Critical Illness Insurance

Pays a lump sum in cash on diagnosis, to spend on anything at all — co-pays, travel, a mortgage payment, time off work.

Worth a look if a diagnosis would cost you months of income as well as co-pays.

Short-Term Home Health Care Insurance

Pays a daily cash benefit for care at home after an illness, injury or surgery, on the same trigger long-term care insurance uses but for a limited period.

Worth a look if you want coverage for the recovery weeks after surgery or a fall.

All Supplemental Coverage · Medicare help in your state