Medicare Supplement

How Medigap's Standardized Plan Letters Work

WATERBURY, Conn. — If you've spent even a few minutes shopping for a Medicare Supplement policy, you've probably run into a wall of letters: Plan A, Plan G, Plan N, and more. It can feel like alphabet soup. The good news is those letters are not marketing gimmicks. They're a federal shorthand designed to help you compare policies on an apples-to-apples basis.

Here's a plain-language look at what Medigap does, what the letters mean, and how to think about your options in and around Waterbury.

What Medigap Actually Does

Medigap — also called Medicare Supplement Insurance — is private insurance that works alongside Original Medicare (Part A and Part B). It helps pay for some of the "leftover" costs Original Medicare doesn't cover, like coinsurance, copayments, and deductibles.

A few important ground rules from Medicare.gov:

• You must be enrolled in Part A and Part B to buy a Medigap policy.
• Medigap only works with Original Medicare. It does not work with Medicare Advantage plans.
• Medigap policies generally do not include prescription drug coverage. For that, you'd add a stand-alone Part D plan.
• Each Medigap policy covers one person. Spouses need their own policies.

Why the Letters Exist

Before Medigap was standardized, comparing policies was a mess — every insurance company sold its own version, and it was nearly impossible to tell what you were actually buying.

To fix that, federal law now requires Medigap plans in most states to follow standardized benefit designs, each labeled with a letter: A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N. (Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have their own systems.)

Here's the key point: within a given letter, the benefits are the same no matter which company sells it. A Plan G from one insurer covers the same core benefits as a Plan G from another. What can differ is the price, the customer service, and any extra perks the company chooses to add on.

What the Letters Cover (In General Terms)

Every standardized Medigap plan covers a core set of benefits, including Part A hospital coinsurance and an extra 365 days of hospital coverage after Medicare benefits are used up. Beyond that, each letter adds different pieces of coverage — things like Part B coinsurance, the first three pints of blood, skilled nursing coinsurance, or foreign travel emergency care.

A few things worth knowing:

• Plans C and F are only available to people who became eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020. If you aged into Medicare after that date, those two aren't options for you.
• Plans K and L have annual out-of-pocket limits — once you hit the limit, the plan pays 100% of covered services for the rest of the year.
• Plan N typically requires small copays for some office and emergency room visits.

Medicare.gov publishes a full side-by-side chart of what each letter covers. It's the single best reference when you're comparing.

How This Looks in Waterbury

Waterbury is in New Haven County, where Medigap availability follows Connecticut state rules. Connecticut is one of the states that offers stronger consumer protections than the federal minimum — including year-round guaranteed issue rights for Medigap, meaning insurers generally can't turn you down or charge you more based on your health.

That's not the case in every state, so it's a meaningful protection for Waterbury-area retirees. If you have questions about how those rules apply to you personally, your best resource is CHOICES, Connecticut's State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). Their counselors are trained, unbiased, and free.

Medigap vs. Medicare Advantage — A Quick Reset

It's easy to confuse Medigap with Medicare Advantage (Part C), but they're different animals:

• Medigap works alongside Original Medicare and helps pay your share of costs.
• Medicare Advantage replaces Original Medicare with a private plan that bundles hospital, medical, and usually drug coverage.

You can't have both at the same time. Choosing between them is one of the bigger decisions in Medicare, and it's worth taking your time.

A Few 2026 Numbers Worth Knowing

Even if Medigap is your focus, a few program-wide 2026 figures may affect your overall Medicare picture:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 for 2026.
• The maximum Part D deductible is $615.
• The coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone as of 2025 — Part D now has three phases.
• The optional Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the year.
• IRMAA surcharges for higher-income enrollees begin above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.