Medicare Supplement

Medigap in Los Angeles for 2026: the plan-letter rules and rate-filing season to watch

LOS ANGELES — If you are shopping for a Medicare Supplement policy in Los Angeles this fall, a few things are worth knowing before you sign anything. The federal rules that decide which Medigap plan letters you can even buy have not been rewritten, but they still surprise people every year. Rates in California are refiled with the state, the Part B deductible that Plans G and N are built around resets on January 1, and the mix of insurers selling in the state can shift from one plan year to the next.

Los Angeles is in Los Angeles County, and Medigap is regulated at the state level in California, so the rules below apply the same way whether you live in Downtown, the San Fernando Valley, or Long Beach.

What is actually changing for 2026

Medigap itself is standardized by the federal government, so the letters on the plans (A, B, D, G, and so on) mean the same benefits at every insurer. That does not change from year to year. What does change each plan year is the underlying Medicare cost-sharing those plans wrap around — most importantly the Part B deductible, which resets every January 1 and is the number Plans G and N are designed around.

The other yearly change is price. Insurers in California file their Medigap rates with the California Department of Insurance, and those filings drive the premium you are quoted. If you already own a Medigap policy, your renewal notice will reflect any approved change.

The plan letters you can (and cannot) buy

For anyone newly eligible for Medicare today, the Medigap plan letters available are A, B, D, G, high-deductible G, K, L, M and N. Plans C and F are only sold to people who were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020. That federal rule has not changed, but it is the single most common source of confusion when a family member on an older plan tells you what they have.

Plan G and Plan N are the two most talked-about "new-eligible" options because they cover most of what Original Medicare leaves behind, with Plan N asking you to pay a small share at the point of care and Plan G covering more of it. Both are built on top of the Part B deductible, which you pay first each year.

How the Part B deductible reset affects Plans G and N

Every January 1, the Part B deductible starts over. Under Plan G, you pay that deductible and the plan generally picks up the Part B coinsurance after that. Under Plan N, the same deductible applies, plus small copays for some office and emergency-room visits. The exact deductible amount for 2026 is set by CMS and posted at medicare.gov — check it there before you compare quotes, because two "identical" Plan G policies from different insurers only differ in price and customer service, not benefits.

Rate-adjustment season in California

California Medigap insurers do not set prices in a vacuum. They file rates with the California Department of Insurance, and those filings are public. If your renewal shows a higher premium than last year, or if a quote from a new insurer looks unusually low, the state's Medigap rate guide is the place to sanity-check it against the market.

A few things to remember:

• Medigap premiums can be priced by age (issue-age or attained-age) or on a community-rated basis. The pricing method matters as much as today's number, because it shapes how the premium changes over time.
• Outside of your one-time Medigap Open Enrollment window (the six months starting when you are 65 and enrolled in Part B), an insurer in California can generally use medical underwriting when you switch. Ask before you apply.
• California has a "birthday rule" that gives existing Medigap policyholders a yearly window to switch to certain equal or lesser-benefit plans without underwriting. Your SHIP counselor can walk you through how it applies to your situation.

Insurers entering or leaving the state

We are not publishing a list of Medigap insurers here, because the accurate, current list for your ZIP code is the one Medicare keeps. The best two places to check who is actively selling Medigap in Los Angeles for 2026 are:

• The Medigap policy search at medicare.gov, which lets you enter your ZIP code and see the insurers offering each plan letter.
• The California Department of Insurance Medigap rate guide, which shows filed premiums by insurer and plan.

If an insurer stops selling new Medigap policies in California, existing policyholders are generally not dropped — the policy stays in force as long as you pay the premium — but you would not be able to add family members or switch into that insurer without going through the usual application process.

What to do this fall

Medigap does not have an Annual Enrollment Period the way Medicare Advantage and Part D do (October 15 – December 7). You can apply for a Medigap policy any time of year. But fall is still a smart time to review, because:

• Your renewal notice for the new plan year usually arrives in the fall.
• The Part B deductible for 2026 is public by then, so you can see exactly what Plan G or Plan N will ask you to pay first.
• If you are also shopping Part D, the drug-cost changes for 2026 — a $2,100 out-of-pocket cap, a maximum $615 deductible, and the optional Medicare Prescription Payment Plan that spreads drug costs across the year — are worth reviewing at the same time.