Medicare Supplement

Medigap letter plans explained for Fort Wayne households

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — If you're new to Medicare or helping a parent sort through the mail piling up on the kitchen table, you've probably run into the word "Medigap." It sounds like jargon, but the idea behind it is pretty simple: Medigap plans help pay some of the costs Original Medicare leaves for you.

Medicare Supplement insurance, explained: what Medigap does and doesn't cover

Here in Fort Wayne, and across Allen County, Medigap works the same way it does everywhere else in most of the country. The plans are standardized by the federal government, which means a Plan G sold by one company covers the same core benefits as a Plan G sold by another. That's a big deal, because it makes comparing plans more about price and customer service than fine print.

Let's walk through what Medigap does, what it doesn't do, and the common mistakes people make when signing up.

What Medigap actually is

Medigap, also called Medicare Supplement Insurance, is a policy you buy from a private insurance company to go alongside Original Medicare (Part A and Part B). It helps pay for things Original Medicare doesn't cover in full — like coinsurance, copayments, and deductibles.

A few things to know up front:

• Medigap only works with Original Medicare. You can't pair it with a Medicare Advantage plan.
• You pay a monthly premium for Medigap on top of your Part B premium.
• Medigap generally doesn't include prescription drug coverage. For that, you'd add a separate Part D plan.
• Medigap doesn't cover long-term care, dental, vision, hearing aids, or private-duty nursing.

How the standardized letters work

Medigap plans are labeled by letter — A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N. Each letter is a different package of benefits, and by federal rule those benefits are the same no matter which insurance company sells the plan.

That means if you're comparing Plan G from Company X and Plan G from Company Y, the coverage is identical. The differences show up in:

• The monthly premium
• The insurer's customer service and billing
• Optional extras a company may bundle in (like a discount program)

Two letters worth knowing about:

• Plan F is only available to people who were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020. If you became eligible on or after that date, you can't buy Plan F as a new enrollee.
• Plan G and Plan N are the two most talked-about options for people newly eligible today, because they cover most of the gaps Original Medicare leaves behind. (We're not ranking them — just noting they come up a lot.)

Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin standardize their Medigap plans differently. Indiana follows the standard federal lettering, so Fort Wayne residents will see the A-through-N system.

Your best window to enroll

There's a specific stretch of time when Medigap is easiest to buy: your Medigap Open Enrollment Period. It's a six-month window that starts the month you're 65 or older and enrolled in Part B.

During this window, insurance companies can't turn you down or charge you more because of your health history. Miss it, and in most states — Indiana included — insurers can use medical underwriting. That means they can look at your health and decide whether to sell you a policy and at what price.

This is one of the most common and costly Medigap mistakes: assuming you can wait and shop later. Sometimes you can. Sometimes you can't. If Medigap is on your radar, the six-month window matters.

Medigap vs. Medicare Advantage — not the same thing

This trips people up constantly. Medicare Advantage (Part C) and Medigap are two different ways to get coverage, and you can't have both at the same time.

• Medicare Advantage replaces Original Medicare with a private plan that usually includes drug coverage and may include extras.
• Medigap works with Original Medicare to help pay your out-of-pocket costs.

Fort Wayne is in Allen County, where residents have access to a range of Medicare Advantage plans from multiple carriers during the Annual Enrollment Period each fall. But the decision between Advantage and Original Medicare + Medigap is a big one, and it usually comes down to how you want to use your coverage — provider choice, travel, budgeting for premiums vs. copays, and so on.

What's changing in 2026 (and what isn't)

Medigap itself isn't undergoing a major overhaul in 2026, but the surrounding Medicare landscape has some updates worth knowing:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100 in 2026. Once your out-of-pocket drug spending hits that amount, you pay $0 for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $615.
• The coverage gap ("donut hole") was eliminated in 2025. Part D now has three phases.
• Medicare Prescription Payment Plan: an optional program that lets you spread your drug costs across the year in monthly payments instead of paying a big bill at the pharmacy.
• IRMAA: higher-income surcharges on Part B and Part D start above $109,000 for a single filer in 2026.
• Annual Enrollment Period: October 15 – December 7.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: January 1 – March 31.

None of those directly change Medigap benefits, but they affect the total picture — especially if you're pairing Medigap with a standalone Part D plan.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Assuming Medigap covers drugs. It doesn't. You'll need a Part D plan for that.
• Waiting past your six-month Medigap open enrollment window without a plan.
• Trying to have Medigap and Medicare Advantage at the same time. You can't.
• Comparing only premiums. Two Plan Gs may have very different prices, but the coverage rules are the same — so premium and service really are the differentiators.
• Forgetting to check whether Plan F applies to you. If you became Medicare-eligible in 2020 or later, it doesn't.