Medicare Supplement

Plan A, Plan N? A Doral guide to Medigap's letter system

# Plan A, Plan N? A Doral guide to Medigap's letter…

DORAL, Fla. — If you have Original Medicare and you've started shopping around, you've probably run into a wall of letters: Plan A, Plan B, Plan D, Plan G, Plan N. They can sound like a pop quiz. In reality, those letters are how Medicare Supplement Insurance — better known as Medigap — is organized, and once you know the code, the choices get a lot less confusing.

Medigap is separate from Original Medicare and separate from Medicare Advantage. It's optional private coverage that helps pay some of the costs Original Medicare leaves behind, like coinsurance and deductibles. Here's how the lettered plans work and how they fit into life here in Miami-Dade County.

What Medigap actually does

Original Medicare (Part A hospital and Part B medical) pays a big share of your covered care, but not all of it. You're still on the hook for things like the Part A hospital deductible, the 20% coinsurance under Part B, and other out-of-pocket costs that have no yearly cap on their own.

That's the gap Medigap fills. Depending on the letter plan you choose, it can pick up some or most of those leftover costs after Medicare pays its share. You keep your red, white and blue Medicare card and use it the same way — the Medigap policy just handles the back-end math.

Why the letters exist

Before the government stepped in, Medigap policies were a patchwork. Today, in most states including Florida, Medigap plans are standardized by the federal government and labeled with letters: A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M and N. (Plans C and F are only available to people who became eligible for Medicare before Jan. 1, 2020.)

Standardization is the important part. A Plan G sold by one insurance company must offer the same core benefits as a Plan G sold by any other company. What can differ is the price, the customer service, and any small extras a carrier tacks on. So when you compare Medigap policies, you're really comparing companies offering the same benefit package — not different benefit packages.

How to read the letters

Each letter is a different bundle of benefits. Some plans cover almost everything Original Medicare leaves behind; others cover less in exchange for a lower premium. A few, like Plans K and L, use cost-sharing where you pay a percentage until you hit an out-of-pocket limit. Plan N generally has lower premiums but asks for small copays at the doctor's office and emergency room.

You don't have to memorize every letter. The practical move is to think about how often you see doctors, whether you travel, and how much predictability you want in your monthly budget — then compare two or three letter plans that match that comfort level.

Doral-area context

Doral is in Miami-Dade County, one of the largest and most active Medicare markets in the country. That usually means Medigap shoppers here have a healthy list of insurance carriers to compare for any given letter plan. Because the benefits inside each letter are set by federal rules, the shopping question in Miami-Dade is really: which company's Plan G (or Plan N, or Plan K) fits my budget and feels easy to deal with?

Remember, too, that Medigap is only for people on Original Medicare. If you're enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, you can't also use a Medigap policy — the two don't mix.

Timing matters more than most people realize

Your strongest opportunity to buy a Medigap plan is your Medigap Open Enrollment Period: a one-time, six-month window that begins the month you're 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. During that window, insurance companies must sell you any Medigap policy they offer at their best available rate, regardless of your health history.

Outside that window, in most cases, insurers in Florida can use medical underwriting — meaning they can look at your health and decide whether to sell you a policy and at what price. That's why the six-month window is so valuable, and why it's worth marking on the calendar.

What Medigap does not do

A few important limits:

• Medigap does not include prescription drug coverage. For medications, you'd add a stand-alone Part D plan. In 2026, Part D has a $2,100 annual out-of-pocket cap and a maximum deductible of $615, and the old "donut hole" coverage gap has been eliminated as of 2025.
• Medigap does not typically cover routine dental, vision, hearing aids or long-term care.
• Medigap covers one person per policy. Spouses each need their own.