Medicare Supplement

Medigap in Glendale: which plan letters an Arizona shopper can actually buy

Medigap — also called Medicare Supplement Insurance — is a private policy that helps pay some of the out-of-pocket costs Original Medicare leaves behind, like coinsurance and hospital costs. It only works alongside Original Medicare. If you're on a Medicare Advantage plan, you can't also use a Medigap policy to pay those costs.

Medicare SupplementGlendale, AZ

What Medigap is, and what it isn't

Medigap does not include prescription drug coverage. In Glendale, as everywhere else in the country, you add a stand-alone Part D plan if you want help paying for medications.

The plan letters you can buy in Arizona

Medigap policies are standardized by the federal government. That means a Plan G from one insurer covers the same core benefits as a Plan G from any other insurer. (Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin standardize differently, but Arizona follows the federal letters.)

For someone newly eligible for Medicare today, these letters are available in Arizona: A, B, D, G, high-deductible G, K, L, M and N. Plans C and F — and the high-deductible F — are still sold, but only to people who became eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020. That cutoff exists because those two plans covered the Part B deductible, and federal law closed them to newer enrollees.

The letters differ in how much of the cost-sharing they pick up. Plan G, for example, covers more than Plan A. Plan N generally has lower premiums than G but leaves you with some office-visit and emergency-room copays. High-deductible G asks you to pay a set amount out of pocket each year before coverage begins. Plans K and L cap your out-of-pocket costs but only pay a percentage of some services until you reach that cap.

How Medigap pairs with Original Medicare and Part D

A common Glendale setup looks like this: Original Medicare (Parts A and B) as the base, a Medigap policy to help with the coinsurance and hospital costs Original Medicare leaves, and a stand-alone Part D plan for prescriptions.

A few Part D program facts worth knowing for 2026:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100.
• The maximum Part D deductible any plan can charge is $615.
• The old coverage gap (the "donut hole") was eliminated as of 2025, so Part D now has three phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your drug costs across the year in monthly amounts instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA surcharges — extra amounts higher-income people pay for Part B and Part D — start above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

Medigap premiums are separate from what you pay for Part B and Part D, and neither Medigap nor Part D is included in Original Medicare itself.

Who sells Medigap in and around Glendale

Glendale is in Maricopa County, and Arizona has a long list of insurers licensed to sell Medigap in the state. The table below lists every insurer and the letters each one offers. A few examples of what you'll see: AARP - UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company sells Plans A, B, C, F, G, K, L and N; Aetna Health and Life Insurance Company sells A, B, F, G, high-deductible G and N; BlueCross BlueShield of Arizona sells A, C, D, F, G and N; Humana (Humana Insurance Company) sells A, B, C, F, high-deductible F, G, high-deductible G, K, L and N; and Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company sells A, F, G, high-deductible G and N.

Because the letters are federally standardized, the shopping question is less about which letter is "better" and more about which insurer offers the letter you want at a price and with a rating method you're comfortable with.

The Arizona rules that shape your choice

Two federal rules matter most:

• Medigap Open Enrollment Period. This is a six-month window that starts the first month you are 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. During this window, insurers must sell you any Medigap plan they offer, cannot use your health to deny you, and cannot charge you more because of a pre-existing condition. This is the same in every state.
• Guaranteed-issue rights. Federal law gives you the right to buy certain Medigap policies without medical underwriting in specific situations — for example, if your Medicare Advantage plan leaves your area or you move out of its service area.

Arizona does not currently have a "birthday rule" like California or Oregon, so outside those federal protections, an insurer in Glendale can look at your health when you apply to switch plans. That's why the timing of your first application matters.

For state-specific questions — including any consumer protections beyond federal law — the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions and Arizona's State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) can help you at no cost.

How to compare Medigap policies without getting lost

Because the benefits inside each letter are the same from insurer to insurer, three things generally drive your decision:

• The letter — how much cost-sharing you want the policy to absorb.
• The insurer's pricing method — whether premiums are set by community rating, issue-age rating, or attained-age rating. This affects how the premium may change as you get older.
• The household or other discounts an insurer may offer, and how the company has raised rates in the past.

Medicare's official Medigap policy search at medicare.gov lets you enter your ZIP code and see the policies available in the Glendale area side by side. SHIP counselors can walk you through the comparison for free.