Medicare Supplement

Medigap in Santa Ana: how California's standardized letters shape your choice

SANTA ANA, Calif. — If you have Original Medicare and want help paying the out-of-pocket costs it leaves behind, a Medicare Supplement policy — better known as Medigap — is one way to do it. In California, Medigap plans are sold by federally standardized letters, which means a Plan G from one insurer covers the same core benefits as a Plan G from another. What changes is the price, the company behind the policy, and a few state-specific rules that shape when you can switch.

Here is how the letters work in Santa Ana, and what to check before you sign anything.

What Medigap is — and what it is not

Medigap is private insurance that sits alongside Original Medicare. After Medicare pays its share of a covered service, your Medigap policy picks up some or all of what is left, depending on the letter you chose.

A few things Medigap does not do:

• It does not replace Medicare. You keep Parts A and B and continue paying the Part B premium.
• It does not include prescription drug coverage. For that, you add a stand-alone Part D plan.
• It does not work with a Medicare Advantage plan. You can have one or the other, not both.

The standardized letters you can buy in California

California uses the federal Medigap standardization (unlike Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin, which use their own systems). For people newly eligible for Medicare today, the letters available are:

• Plan A, B, D, G, G-HD, K, L, M and N.
• Plans C and F are closed to anyone who became eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020. If you were eligible before that date, you may still be able to buy them.

Each letter covers a defined mix of benefits — for example, the Part A hospital coinsurance, Part B coinsurance, the first three pints of blood, and so on. Plans K and L cap your out-of-pocket costs but only pay a percentage of certain charges. Plan G-HD is a high-deductible version of Plan G: you pay more up front before the plan starts covering costs. Which letter fits you depends on how you want to trade monthly premium against out-of-pocket exposure.

How Medigap pairs with Part D

Because Medigap does not cover prescriptions, most people in Santa Ana who choose this route also enroll in a stand-alone Part D drug plan. A few 2026 numbers worth knowing:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026. Once your covered drug spending reaches that amount, you pay $0 for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• The maximum Part D deductible is $615.
• The old coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone as of 2025. Part D now has three phases instead of four.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your drug costs across the year in monthly payments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA surcharges on Part B and Part D premiums start above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

California rules that shape your choice

A few state-specific points to keep in mind:

• Pricing methods vary. In California, insurers can use different methods to set Medigap premiums (for example, community-rated, issue-age, or attained-age). Two policies with the same letter can be priced very differently over time. Before you buy, ask the insurer which pricing method the policy uses.
• California birthday rule. California allows people already enrolled in a Medigap policy a limited annual window tied to their birthday to switch to another Medigap policy of equal or lesser benefits, generally without new medical underwriting. The exact rules and timing can change, so confirm the current details with the California Department of Insurance or your local SHIP before you act.
• Federal guaranteed-issue rights still apply in certain situations — for example, during your six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period that starts when you are 65 and enrolled in Part B, and in specific loss-of-coverage situations.

Outside those windows, insurers in California can generally use medical underwriting to decide whether to issue a policy and at what price.

How to compare policies in Santa Ana

Santa Ana is in Orange County, and Medigap policies are sold statewide by many carriers. There is no single local list of insurers to point you to, but you can build your own shortlist in a few steps:

1. Search by ZIP code on Medicare.gov. The Medigap policy search shows every insurer licensed to sell each letter for your ZIP code and gives premium ranges. 2. Check the California Department of Insurance Medigap rate guide. It compares premiums insurers have filed for each standardized letter. 3. Call California's SHIP — the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP). Counselors are trained, free, and do not sell insurance.

The table below lists every standardized Medigap letter available. When you compare quotes, compare the same letter across insurers — that is the only apples-to-apples comparison Medigap allows.

Key dates to remember

• Medigap Open Enrollment: the six months starting the month you are 65 and enrolled in Part B. This is your strongest window; insurers cannot deny you or charge more for health reasons.
• Medicare Annual Enrollment Period: October 15 – December 7. This is for Part D and Medicare Advantage — not Medigap — but it is when many people review their overall coverage.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: January 1 – March 31, for people already in an Advantage plan.