Medicare Supplement

Same Medigap Plan G in Fremont, different insurers: what actually changes

# Same Medigap Plan G in Fremont, different insurers: what actually…

Medicare SupplementFremont, CA

FREMONT, Calif. — If you have shopped Medigap here, you have probably noticed something strange: two insurers are selling "Plan G," but the quotes look nothing alike. The coverage is identical — that part is federal law. What differs is how each insurer decides your price, whether it raises rates as you age, and whether you have to answer health questions to get in.

Fremont sits in Alameda County, and California residents can choose from the same set of Medigap insurers that sell statewide. Below is a plain-language guide to comparing the same plan letter across those companies, without any prices attached.

The coverage is identical. The company selling it is not.

Medigap plans are standardized by the federal government. A Plan G from one insurer covers exactly the same gaps in Original Medicare as a Plan G from another. A Plan N is a Plan N. You are not comparing benefits — you are comparing companies.

That is why the fair way to shop is to pick the letter first (based on how much cost-sharing you want to handle yourself), then compare the insurers that sell that letter in California. The table below lists every insurer approved to sell Medigap in the state and which letters each one offers.

Who sells Medigap in California

These are the insurers currently selling Medigap policies to California residents, listed alphabetically. Names appear exactly as they do on the Medicare.gov Medigap policy search:

• AARP - UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company
• AFLAC
• American Retirement Life Insurance Company (CIGNA)
• Anthem BlueCross - California
• Bankers Life (Underwritten by Washington National Insurance Company)
• Blue Shield of California Life & Health Insurance Company
• Continental Life Insurance Company of Brentwood, Tennessee (Aetna)
• Everence Association Inc.
• Humana (Humana Insurance Company)
• Insurance Company of North America
• Lumos Insurance
• Mutual of Omaha (United World Life Insurance Company)
• State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
• United American Insurance Company
• USAA Life Insurance Company

Not every insurer sells every letter. AFLAC, Blue Shield of California Life & Health, Everence and USAA, for example, offer a shorter menu (Plans A, F, G and N). Humana and United American offer the widest menu, including high-deductible versions. The full table on this page shows exactly which letters each insurer offers.

The three pricing methods — this is the biggest difference

When you compare quotes for the same plan letter, the first thing to ask each insurer is how they price the policy. There are three methods, and they behave very differently over 10 or 20 years:

Attained-age rating. Your price is based on your current age and goes up as you get older. It often looks lower at 65 and higher at 80. Most California Medigap policies use this method.

Issue-age rating. Your price is locked to the age you were when you bought the policy. Rates can still rise with inflation and claims, but not because you had another birthday.

Community rating (no-age rating). Everyone in the same area pays the same base rate, regardless of age. Rare in California, but worth asking about.

Two insurers can quote the same Plan G today and end up in very different places a decade from now, purely because of the method they use.

Rate history matters more than the first-year quote

Even within one pricing method, insurers raise rates at different speeds. That is called the rate history — the pattern of annual increases a company has taken over the past 5 to 10 years.

The California Department of Insurance publishes a Medicare Supplement rate comparison guide that shows recent rate activity by company. Reading that guide is the single best way to avoid the "cheap in year one, painful in year five" trap. Ask any agent for the insurer's rate history in writing before you sign.

Household discounts and underwriting

Household discounts. Many Medigap insurers in California offer a discount if you live with another adult (sometimes another policyholder, sometimes just another adult over a certain age). The size and rules of the discount vary by insurer, and applying the discount to the same plan letter can meaningfully change how two quotes stack up.

Medical underwriting. During your one-time, six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period — which starts the month you are 65 or older AND enrolled in Part B — insurers must sell you any plan they offer at their published rate, regardless of health. After that window closes, and outside of a few guaranteed-issue situations, California insurers can ask health questions and can decline you or charge more. Each insurer has its own underwriting rules, so a "no" from one is not always a "no" from another.

California also has a "birthday rule," which lets current Medigap enrollees switch to the same or lesser-benefit plan with another insurer during a 60-day window around their birthday without new underwriting. That is a state protection worth knowing about before shopping.

How to actually compare, step by step

1. Pick the letter you want. Newly eligible enrollees today can choose from A, B, D, G, G-HD, K, L, M and N. Plans C and F are only available to people who were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020. 2. Go to Medicare.gov's Medigap policy search and enter your Fremont ZIP code. It will list every insurer selling that letter in your area. 3. Pull the California Department of Insurance rate comparison guide for a rate history check. 4. Call two or three insurers (or one independent broker who represents several) and ask three questions: what pricing method do you use, what have your rate increases looked like the past five years, and do I qualify for a household discount? 5. Confirm whether you are inside your Medigap Open Enrollment window or will need to go through underwriting. 6. For personalized help, call your local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), known in California as HICAP. It is free and unbiased.