Medicare Supplement

Is Plan G or Plan N the right Medigap fit in Montgomery?

If you live in Montgomery and are pairing Medigap with Original Medicare, the first thing to know is that every Medigap policy sold in Alabama is federally standardized. That means a Plan G from one company covers the same core benefits as a Plan G from another. What changes between companies is the price, the customer service and the underwriting — not the benefits inside the letter.

Medicare SupplementMontgomery, AL

Medigap in Montgomery: how Alabama's standardized plan letters actually work

Montgomery is in Montgomery County, and the same set of standardized plan letters is available statewide. So the choice for most people here comes down to which letter fits their situation, and which insurer sells that letter in Alabama.

What the plan letters mean

Medigap plans are labeled with letters — A, B, D, G, G-HD, K, L, M and N are the letters open to anyone newly eligible for Medicare today. Plans C and F are still sold, but only to people who were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020. Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin standardize their plans differently, but Alabama follows the federal letter system.

Each letter is a fixed package of benefits set by federal rules. Plan G at Company A covers the same gaps in Original Medicare as Plan G at Company B. Plan N at Company A covers the same gaps as Plan N at Company C. That is the point of standardization: it lets you shop on price and service without having to decode different benefit charts.

The table below lists every insurer selling Medigap in Alabama and the letters each one offers, so you can see the range at a glance.

How Medigap pairs with Original Medicare and Part D

Medigap is designed to sit next to Original Medicare. Medicare pays its share of a covered hospital or doctor bill first, and your Medigap policy then pays some or all of the coinsurance, copays or deductibles the plan letter is built to cover.

A few ground rules matter here:

• You must have both Part A and Part B to buy and use a Medigap policy.
• Medigap does not work with Medicare Advantage. If you are enrolled in an Advantage plan, a Medigap policy cannot pay your Advantage cost-sharing.
• Modern Medigap plans do not include prescription drug coverage. If you want drug coverage, you add a stand-alone Part D plan.

For 2026, Part D has a $2,100 out-of-pocket cap and a maximum deductible of $615. The old "donut hole" coverage gap was eliminated in 2025, so Part D now works in three phases. There is also an optional Medicare Prescription Payment Plan that lets you spread your drug costs across the year in monthly amounts.

Higher-income enrollees may pay an IRMAA surcharge on Part B and Part D; for 2026, IRMAA begins above $109,000 in income for a single filer.

Who sells Medigap in Alabama

Alabama has a broad list of insurers licensed to sell Medigap, and not every company sells every letter. Familiar names in the state include AARP – UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company, AFLAC, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, Humana (Emphesys Insurance Company), Mutual of Omaha (Omaha Insurance Company), State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and USAA Life Insurance Company, alongside a number of other carriers.

Some insurers offer a wide slate of letters — for example, United American Insurance Company sells Plans A, B, C, D, F, F-HD, G, G-HD, K, L and N — while others focus on a smaller set such as A, F, G and N. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama sells only Plan A. The full picture is in the table below.

Because benefits inside a lettered plan are identical, comparing the same letter across several of these insurers is a reasonable place to start.

The rules that shape your choice in Alabama

The single most important rule for most people is the federal Medigap Open Enrollment Period. It starts the month you are 65 or older and enrolled in Part B, and it lasts six months. During that window, you can buy any Medigap plan sold in Alabama from any company that offers it, and the insurer cannot turn you down or charge you more because of your health.

Outside that window, insurers in Alabama generally can use medical underwriting to decide whether to sell you a policy and at what price, unless a federal guaranteed-issue right applies — for example, if certain kinds of other coverage end. Some states have added extra rights (such as "birthday rules") on top of federal law. For your specific situation and any state-level protections, check with the Alabama Department of Insurance and the Alabama SHIP program (called SHIP/AIM in Alabama).

When you can make changes

Medigap is not tied to the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period. You can apply for a Medigap policy any time of year — the question is whether you get guaranteed issue or have to answer health questions.

Two dates still matter for the rest of your Medicare setup:

• Annual Enrollment Period: October 15 – December 7, when you can join, drop or switch a Part D drug plan and make Medicare Advantage changes.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period: January 1 – March 31, for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan.

If you switch from Medicare Advantage back to Original Medicare during one of those windows, that is often when people look at Medigap again.