Medicare Supplement

San Jose Medigap: pair it with Part D for drug coverage

If you live in San Jose and you're pairing Original Medicare with a Medicare Supplement policy — better known as Medigap — the first thing to know is that your choices come from a short, federally standardized menu of letter plans. The letters are the same nationwide, but which ones you can buy today, and how they're priced, depend on when you became eligible for Medicare and on California's own rules. San Jose is in Santa Clara County, and the plan letters available here are the same ones sold across California.

Medicare SupplementSan Jose, CA

What Medigap is — and what it isn't

Medigap is private insurance that helps pay the out-of-pocket costs Original Medicare leaves behind, like coinsurance, copayments, and some deductibles. It pairs with Parts A and B only. If you're on a Medicare Advantage plan (Part C), you can't also use a Medigap policy — the two don't go together.

Medigap also does not cover prescription drugs. If you want drug coverage alongside Original Medicare and Medigap, you'd enroll in a stand-alone Part D plan. In 2026, Part D has a $2,100 annual out-of-pocket cap, a maximum deductible of $615, and the old coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone — replaced by three simpler phases. There's also an optional Medicare Prescription Payment Plan that lets you spread drug costs across the year in monthly amounts.

The plan letters you can buy in California today

Federal law standardizes Medigap into lettered plans, so a Plan G from one company covers the same medical benefits as a Plan G from another. What differs is the price, the customer service, and sometimes extras.

For people newly eligible for Medicare today, California offers these letters: A, B, D, G, G High-Deductible, K, L, M, and N. Plans C and F are closed to anyone who became Medicare-eligible on or after January 1, 2020 — they remain available only to people who qualified before that date. (Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin standardize their Medigap plans differently, but California follows the federal letter system.)

Each letter offers a different mix of cost-sharing. Some pay nearly all your Part A and B out-of-pocket costs; others (like K and L) share more of the cost with you in exchange for lower premiums. The high-deductible version of Plan G is a lower-premium option that kicks in after you meet an annual deductible.

We are not going to tell you which letter is "best" — that depends entirely on your health, your budget, and how you feel about paying more up front versus more when you use care. A licensed agent or your local SHIP counselor can walk through the trade-offs with you.

How pricing works in California

Medigap premiums aren't standardized — insurers set their own rates, and they can price policies in three main ways: community-rated (everyone pays the same regardless of age), issue-age rated (based on your age when you bought in), or attained-age rated (rises as you get older). Two policies with the same letter can cost very different amounts, and the price you see today isn't necessarily the price five years from now.

That's why comparing quotes matters. The California Department of Insurance publishes a Medigap rate guide that lists premium ranges by company, and the Medicare.gov Medigap policy search lets you filter by ZIP code.

Enrollment timing and your rights

The best time to buy Medigap is during your six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period, which starts the month you're both 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. During that window, insurers must sell you any plan they offer at their best available rate, regardless of your health.

Outside that window, in most states, insurers can use medical underwriting and turn you down or charge more. California, however, offers additional protections beyond federal law — including a "birthday rule" that gives existing Medigap enrollees an annual window to switch to certain other Medigap policies without underwriting. The specifics change over time, so check the California Department of Insurance and the state's Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP, California's SHIP) before you make a move.

Finding an insurer in San Jose

We don't publish a list of insurers on this page. To see which companies are actively selling each letter plan in your ZIP code, use:

• The Medigap policy search on Medicare.gov (enter your San Jose ZIP)
• The California Department of Insurance Medigap rate guide
• HICAP, California's free SHIP, which offers unbiased one-on-one counseling

Once you have a shortlist, get quotes directly from insurers or through a licensed independent agent who represents multiple carriers.