How Medigap Premium Prices Are Rising -

[GailL1]

From the mouth of those that have them - different plans / different states -

Read the link and the posters that are chiming in on this subject.

Reddit - Medicare - Plan G Price Increase as of July 1 - What Other Beneficiaries Are Saying 

Heck, paying less than $ 300 a month sounds like a real deal from what others are saying.

There are usually options -depends on your state and your investigation skills or perhaps help that you find or experts that you connect with for help - you can always check with your Dept of Aging, SHIP in your state  (State Health Insurance Program Assistance), or even an independent Medicare Medigap agent or broker to find out any options you might have.  

NO, this is not a movement to get people on a MAPD plan - but it is a very good persuasion for considering taking on more of the risk in Original Medicare with your Supplemental plan.

MAPD everywhere will never be an option for the program of Medicare - mainly because they are not available everywhere and never will be - networks can’t be designed in certain areas because the providers are not available.  

BTW, states are the ones that approve Medigap premium increases because it is not actually health insurance.  Medigap or Medicare Supplemental Insurance is financial protection insurance that is used ONLY with Original Medicare to protect the beneficiary from a financially catastrophic medical event because Original Medicare does not have any limit in out of pocket cost.  A plan (any) to supplement OG Medicare is not a requirement - in fact, there are 3 million on Medicare that only have Medicare and therefore pay out of pocket (or are supposed to) for their share of the cost.

However, that does not mean that your Medigap policy has to cover 1st dollar - as we have seen with the discontinuance of sales of Plan F.  OR even most of it as Plan G offers with ONLY a Part B deductible of (2026) $ 283.  You are gonna pay dearly for this sort of complete coverage - but by picking up some more of your cost yourself in another plan, premiums are not as high.

Liken it to your auto insurance - premiums to high - you raise your deductible or make other changes so that you take on more of the risk that driving produces - thus lowering your premiums.  

Interesting times we are in with all this inflation, especially medical inflation and Medicare usage because there are so many baby boomers - about half of which have to have some sort of supplemental coverage because they have Original Medicare.  That could be Medicaid or some other coverage that acts as a supplement - all of part added coverage - many of the rest gain access to this coverage via a Medigap plans but there are many different ones.  

Different plans have been in vogue thru the years - prior 2010, it was Plan J, no more Plan J’s are sold since 2010.  Then there was Plan F, no more Plan Fs are sold since 2020 unless you meet the birth year qualifications.  But premiums are very high there now so it is probably best to pick another plan that F even if you do meet the qualifications.  NOW Plan G is (or was) in vogue since it covers what Medicare does not pay except for the Part B deductible (2026) $ 283.  

But that still leaves a bunch of others where you pick up more of the risk.  Plan A is where many states give the option for a Medigap plan to those less than 65 (disabled on SSDI) so that one may not be the best choice either due to potentially very  high health care cost of those beneficiaries.  But there are still others.

Even if your state allows for underwriting to change plans or insurers - you should still check out this option with an expert to see what they say are your chances to pass underwriting - especially if you are gonna pick a new plan where you take on more of the risk - that may make a difference to the insurer.  Insurers make the call on underwriting - who gets by with or without it, who gets to change but with perhaps a somewhat higher premium for the plan of choice (that’s the reason for underwriting - a higher premium evens out the risk you are bringing to the new plan - OR in some states, the insurer gets to hold off coverage of some pre-existing condition for a few months.  State law is very important to know because the state is the entity that governs what the Medigap insurer can do - just like in some states you can change to a different plan or insurer without underwriting.  And in a few states (4), you can pretty much do it anytime or even buy a plan at anytime because these few states have continuous enrollment - but they pay the price in higher premiums. 

Good Luck to any of you who are trying to make the decision as to what to do with these higher and higher Medigap premiums especially for regular Plan G.

Medicare.gov - Compare Medigap Plan Benefits 

Have a great day