Medicare Supplement

Medigap Plan Letters in Birmingham: A Plain-English Guide

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — If you've started shopping for Medicare coverage, you've probably run into a wall of letters: Plan A, Plan B, Plan G, Plan N, and more. These are Medicare Supplement Insurance plans, better known as Medigap. They're standardized by the federal government, which is actually good news for you — it means the letter tells you exactly what the plan covers, no matter which insurance company sells it.

Making Sense of Medigap in Birmingham

Here in Birmingham, which sits in Jefferson County, Medigap works the same way it does across most of Alabama and the rest of the country. Let's walk through what these plans do and how to read the letters without getting lost.

What Medigap Actually Does

Original Medicare (Part A and Part B) pays for a big chunk of your hospital and doctor bills, but not all of it. You're still on the hook for deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments. Those out-of-pocket costs can add up quickly, especially if you have a serious illness or a long hospital stay.

Medigap is private insurance you can buy to help pay some of those leftover costs. It works alongside Original Medicare — Medicare pays first, then your Medigap policy picks up part of what's left, depending on the plan letter you chose.

A few important things to know:

• Medigap only works with Original Medicare. It does not work with Medicare Advantage plans.
• Medigap does not include prescription drug coverage. For that, you'd add a separate Part D plan.
• You pay a monthly premium to the insurance company on top of your Part B premium.

How the Standardized Letters Work

In most states, including Alabama, Medigap plans come in 10 standardized versions labeled A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N. "Standardized" means every Plan G, for example, offers the exact same core benefits — whether you buy it from a big national insurer or a smaller regional one. The price and customer service can differ, but the coverage is set by federal rules.

Here's a broad look at what the letters cover:

• Plan A — the most basic benefits.
• Plan B — adds the Part A deductible.
• Plans C and F — broader coverage, but only available if you were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020.
• Plans D and G — popular middle-of-the-road choices; Plan G is often chosen by people newly eligible today.
• Plans K and L — lower premiums, but you share more of the costs up to a yearly limit.
• Plan M — splits some deductibles.
• Plan N — lower premiums than G, with small copays for some office and ER visits.

The takeaway: the letter tells you the benefit package. Your job is to compare prices and the insurance company's reputation for that same letter.

The Best Time to Buy

Timing matters more with Medigap than almost anywhere else in Medicare. Your Medigap Open Enrollment Period is a one-time, six-month window that starts the month you're 65 and enrolled in Part B. During this window, insurance companies can't turn you down or charge you more because of your health.

Miss this window, and in Alabama, insurers can use medical underwriting — meaning your health history can affect whether you get a policy and what it costs. This is one of the most common surprises people run into, so mark your calendar early.

Medigap vs. Medicare Advantage

A lot of Birmingham readers ask us how Medigap compares to Medicare Advantage. They're two different roads:

• Medigap pairs with Original Medicare. You can see any doctor in the country who accepts Medicare. You'll usually add a stand-alone Part D drug plan.
• Medicare Advantage replaces Original Medicare with a private plan that often bundles drug coverage and extras, but usually uses a network of doctors.

Neither is universally better — it depends on your health, your budget, your doctors, and how you like to handle paperwork.

A Quick Word on 2026 Costs

Medigap helps with Part A and Part B cost-sharing, but it doesn't touch prescription drugs. For 2026, a few Part D program-level figures are worth knowing:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615.
• The old "donut hole" coverage gap has been eliminated as of 2025.
• Higher-income enrollees pay IRMAA surcharges starting above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

If prescription costs concern you, ask about the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which lets you smooth drug costs into monthly payments.