LINCOLN- Seven years ago, Shawna Thompson, a registered nurse, was a passenger in an ambulance that veered off an Interstate highway when the driver fell asleep. Thompson, who lives in North Platte, suffered a traumatic brain injury in the crash. Because she is younger than 65, she cannot obtain the “supplemental” insurance offered to Medicare patients, so-called medigap insurance that is commonly purchased by those of retirement age or older.

It prompted Thompson to join another North Platte couple in asking the Nebraska Legislature to change state law, to allow those under 65 who have disabilities to buy medigap policies to cover expenses not covered by regular Medicare. All but 14 states currently allow some form of medigap coverage to be purchased by those under 65 on disability. This issue has been before the legislature before in 2022.

In 2022, a bill failed to advance due to opposition by the insurance industry, which argues that adding such high-cost disabled people to the insurance rolls would increase costs for others. “When you put more unhealthy or costly people into the Medicare population, the premiums have to go up,” said Robert Bell, executive director of the Nebraska Insurance Federation.

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