Medicare Advantage

How Medigap Plan Letters Work for Pittsburgh Retirees

People in Pittsburgh can choose from 95 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 96 this year. Nine of this year’s plans are gone, 8 are new to Allegheny County, and 46 that continue have changed their premium, deductible, plan type or name, 11 of them under a new name.

PITTSBURGH — If you've spent any time reading about Medicare Supplement Insurance, you've probably run into a string of letters — Plan A, Plan G, Plan N, and a few others — and wondered why they matter. You're not alone. For many Pittsburgh retirees weighing their options for 2027, the Medigap letters are one of the most confusing parts of Medicare.

Making sense of the Medigap alphabet in Pittsburgh

The good news: once you understand what those letters actually represent, comparing coverage gets a lot simpler.

What Medigap is (and what it isn't)

Medigap, also called Medicare Supplement Insurance, is a private policy that works alongside Original Medicare (Part A and Part B). It helps pay some of the out-of-pocket costs that Original Medicare leaves behind — things like coinsurance, copayments, and certain deductibles.

A few key points to keep in mind:

• Medigap only works with Original Medicare. It does not work with a Medicare Advantage plan.
• Medigap does not include prescription drug coverage. For that, you'd add a separate Part D plan.
• You pay a monthly premium for a Medigap policy in addition to your Part B premium.

Pittsburgh is in Allegheny County, and Medigap policies sold in Pennsylvania follow the same federal standardization rules as the rest of the country (with a few state-level twists).

Why the letters are "standardized"

Here's the part that surprises many people: in most states, Medigap plans are standardized by the federal government. That means Plan G from one insurance company covers the exact same benefits as Plan G from another company. Same with Plan N, Plan K, and so on.

The letters — A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N — each describe a specific bundle of benefits. Insurance companies can decide whether to sell a particular letter, and they set their own premiums, but they cannot change what's inside the plan.

That's why two Plan G policies in Pittsburgh can have very different prices even though the coverage is identical on paper.

What the letters generally cover

Every standardized Medigap plan covers at least these basics:

• Part A hospital coinsurance, plus up to an extra 365 days of hospital coverage after Medicare benefits run out
• Part B coinsurance or copayment (some plans cover a percentage rather than the full amount)
• The first three pints of blood each year
• Part A hospice care coinsurance or copayment

From there, the plans differ in how much of the remaining gaps they fill — things like skilled nursing facility coinsurance, the Part A deductible, foreign travel emergency care, and (for older enrollees) the Part B deductible.

Two important notes on eligibility:

• Plans C and F are only available to people who became eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020.
• Plans K and L have their own annual out-of-pocket limits, after which they pay 100% of covered services for the rest of the year.

How to think about choosing a letter

Instead of asking "which plan is the best?" — a question no one can answer for you — it helps to ask yourself a few practical questions:

1. How often do I see doctors or specialists? If you use care frequently, a plan that covers more coinsurance may feel more predictable. 2. How do I feel about paying a higher premium for fewer surprise bills? Some people prefer to pay more up front to avoid unexpected costs later. Others prefer a lower premium and are comfortable paying some costs as they come. 3. Do I travel outside the U.S.? Certain letters include foreign travel emergency benefits; others don't. 4. When did I become eligible for Medicare? That determines whether Plans C and F are on the table.

Your best window to buy Medigap is your six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period, which starts the month you're 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. During that window, insurance companies generally can't turn you down or charge you more based on health history. Outside that window, protections vary.

Where Medigap fits in the 2027 picture

Medigap doesn't change the big program-level numbers for 2027 — but knowing them helps you plan:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 for 2026.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615 in 2026 ($700 in 2027).
• The coverage gap (the old "donut hole") has been eliminated as of 2025; Part D now has three phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs over the calendar year in monthly installments.
• IRMAA surcharges (higher Part B and Part D premiums for higher earners) begin above $109,000 in income for single filers in 2026.
• The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 – December 7, and Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment runs January 1 – March 31. (These windows are mainly for Advantage and Part D — Medigap has its own timing rules.)