Medicare Supplement

Santa Rosa Medigap: rate filings, plan letters, deductible reset

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — If you have a Medigap policy or you are shopping for one this fall, a handful of moving parts are worth knowing before the calendar flips. The plan letters you can buy, the Part B deductible that Plans G and N are built around, and the annual rate filings insurers submit to the state all reset on their own schedule — and none of them line up neatly with Medicare's fall Annual Enrollment Period.

Santa Rosa is in Sonoma County, and Medigap in California is regulated at the state level, so the rules below apply whether you live downtown, in Rincon Valley, or out toward Sebastopol.

The plan letters you can actually buy

Medigap policies are standardized by letter, which means a Plan G from one company covers the same Medicare-approved services as a Plan G from another. What differs is the price and the company behind it.

If you are newly eligible for Medicare today, these letters are available to you: A, B, D, G, G-HD (a high-deductible version of G), 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 can still buy or keep C or F.

That rule is not new for 2026, but it continues to shape what shoppers in Santa Rosa see when they run a Medigap search — a first-time enrollee turning 65 next year simply will not see C or F as options.

The Part B deductible reset that G and N are built around

Plans G and N — the two letters most first-time buyers compare — are designed so that you pay the annual Part B deductible yourself, and the Medigap policy picks up covered costs after that. (Plan N also has small copays for some office and emergency room visits.)

That deductible resets every January 1. CMS sets the exact dollar figure for 2026 and posts it on medicare.gov under Medicare costs. If you have Plan G or N, expect to meet that deductible again early in the new year before your Medigap coverage kicks in on Part B services.

The high-deductible version of Plan G works the same way but with a much larger yearly deductible that is also set federally and updated each year.

Rate-adjustment season: how to check what your insurer filed

Medigap premiums are not fixed by Medicare. In California, insurers file proposed rate changes with the California Department of Insurance, and those filings are public. That is where a renewal notice actually comes from.

A few practical steps if your renewal letter arrives and the number surprises you:

• Look up your carrier's most recent Medigap rate filing on the California Department of Insurance website.
• Call HICAP, California's State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), for free one-on-one help comparing your current policy to other standardized plans.
• Remember that outside your one-time Medigap Open Enrollment window (the six months starting when you are 65 and enrolled in Part B), insurers in most cases can use medical underwriting when you apply to switch. California's "birthday rule" is a separate protection that lets you change to certain equal or lesser Medigap plans around your birthday each year without underwriting — ask HICAP how it applies to your situation.

Who sells Medigap in California

The Medigap market in California is stable, with a long list of insurers offering the standardized letters. The table below lists every carrier currently selling Medigap policies to Californians and the plan letters each one offers. Names you will recognize from that list include AARP - UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company, Anthem BlueCross - California, Blue Shield of California Life & Health Insurance Company, Humana (Humana Insurance Company), Mutual of Omaha (United World Life Insurance Company), and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, among others.

If a company you have heard of is not on the list, it may not be selling Medigap in California this year. New entries and exits are always possible; medicare.gov's Medigap policy search is refreshed as filings change.

How Medigap fits with the rest of your 2026 Medicare picture

Medigap only pairs with Original Medicare (Parts A and B), not with Medicare Advantage. If you keep Original Medicare plus a Medigap policy, you will still want a separate Part D drug plan. A few 2026 program-level facts worth keeping in mind:

• Part D has a $2,100 annual out-of-pocket cap for covered drugs in 2026.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615 in 2026.
• The old coverage gap ("donut hole") was eliminated in 2025; Part D now has three phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the year in monthly amounts.
• IRMAA income-related surcharges on Part B and Part D begin above $109,000 for a single filer in 2026.
• The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 – December 7. Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment runs January 1 – March 31. Medigap has its own enrollment rules and is not tied to these windows.