Medicare Supplement

Medigap A through N: What the letters actually promise

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — If you have Original Medicare and you've started shopping for extra coverage, you've probably run into a wall of letters: Plan A, Plan B, Plan G, Plan N, and more. Those letters aren't random. They're a shorthand set by federal rules, and once you know what they mean, comparing Medicare Supplement (Medigap) coverage gets a lot less confusing.

What Medigap is — and what it isn't

Medigap is private insurance that helps pay some of the out-of-pocket costs Original Medicare leaves behind, like coinsurance, copayments, and deductibles. It works only with Original Medicare (Part A and Part B). If you're enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, you can't also use a Medigap policy to fill in gaps.

Medigap also doesn't usually cover prescription drugs. For that, most people add a stand-alone Part D plan. And Medigap generally doesn't cover things like long-term care, dental, vision, or hearing aids.

Why the letters exist

Before the 1990s, Medigap policies varied wildly, and comparing them was nearly impossible. Congress stepped in and required insurers to sell only "standardized" plans, each labeled with a letter. Today, in most states including Florida, insurers can offer Plans A, B, D, G, K, L, M, and N. Plans C and F are still available, but only to people who became eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020.

Here's the key point: a Plan G from one company covers the same core benefits as a Plan G from any other company. The differences come down to price, customer service, and extras a carrier might add.

A quick tour of the letters

Each lettered plan covers a different mix of these gaps:

• Part A hospital coinsurance (included in every plan).
• Part B coinsurance or copayment.
• The first three pints of blood.
• Part A hospice coinsurance.
• Skilled nursing facility coinsurance.
• Part A and Part B deductibles (coverage varies by letter).
• Part B "excess charges" (only in some plans).
• Foreign travel emergency care (only in some plans).

Plans like G and N tend to be popular because they cover a broad range of these gaps. Plans K and L cap your out-of-pocket costs but split some coinsurance with you. The right letter depends on how much monthly premium you're comfortable paying versus how much you'd rather cover at the doctor's office.

When to buy

The single most important date for Medigap shoppers is the start of your Medigap Open Enrollment Period. This is a six-month window that begins the month you're both 65 or older and enrolled in Medicare Part B. During this window, insurers must sell you any Medigap plan they offer, at the best available rate, regardless of your health history.

Miss that window, and in most states insurers can use medical underwriting — meaning they can charge you more or turn you down based on pre-existing conditions. Florida does not currently guarantee a yearly Medigap "switch" window, so timing matters here.

How this looks in Pinellas Park

Pinellas Park is in Pinellas County, where — as in the rest of Florida — the Medigap letters and their benefits are set by federal rules. What varies locally is which insurers sell which lettered plans and what they charge. Two neighbors on the same street could pay very different premiums for the exact same Plan G coverage, simply because they bought from different carriers.

That's why it's worth comparing several companies before you sign anything, and asking how the insurer prices its policies (community-rated, issue-age, or attained-age pricing all behave differently over time).

Where to get unbiased help

You don't have to figure this out alone. Medicare.gov has a Medigap plan finder that shows the standardized benefits side by side. You can also call 1-800-MEDICARE any time, or reach out to Florida's State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHINE), which offers free one-on-one counseling from trained volunteers. None of these resources are trying to sell you anything.