Medicare Supplement Plans (Medigap)
Medigap, or Medicare supplement, plans are extra insurance to pay for all or part of the deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments you have with Original Medicare. You buy them from private insurance companies.
There are 10 Medigap plans, which vary in what and how much they cover. Each is identified by a letter: A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N. They’re standardized, which means a Plan A offered by one company has the same benefits as a Plan A sold by another one. Your premiums may differ, though. To find out what benefits are offered under each plan, go to the Medicare website.
Each insurance company decides which Medigap plans it wants to sell, although some states’ laws require them to offer certain plans there.
A few things to know about Medigap plans:
- You’ll still pay your Part B premiums, along with your Medigap premiums.
- Each policy covers just one person. Your spouse will need a separate one if you both want coverage.
- Those sold to people who are newly eligible for Medicare don’t cover Part B deductibles. New enrollees haven’t been allowed to buy C or F Medigap plans since Jan. 1, 2020.
- The right time to buy one is when you’re first eligible. You’ll likely face fewer choices and higher prices if you try to get one later on.
Where you live affects how easy it is to decide on a Medigap plan, says Casey Schwarz, JD, senior counsel for education & federal policy at the Medicare Rights Center.
“States like New York and Connecticut have pretty open Medigap rates. It’s easier to decide whether you need to keep money on hand for deductibles and copays,” she says. “But if you live in New Hampshire or Virginia, you have very limited opportunities to buy Medigap if you don’t buy when you are first eligible.”