Medicare Supplement

Medigap Plans A, G, and N: A Covington Guide

COVINGTON, La. — If you've ever tried to sort out Medicare Supplement insurance — often called Medigap — you've probably run into a wall of letters: Plan A, Plan G, Plan N, and a few in between. It can feel like alphabet soup, but there's a real logic behind those letters, and understanding it can save you a lot of second-guessing.

Here's a plain-English guide to what Medigap does, what it doesn't, and how the standardized letter plans work for people on Original Medicare in Covington and across St. Tammany Parish.

What Medigap actually is

Medigap is private insurance that helps pay some of the out-of-pocket costs Original Medicare (Part A and Part B) leaves behind — things like deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments. It doesn't replace Medicare; it works alongside it. When you get a covered service, Medicare pays its share first, and your Medigap policy picks up some or all of what's left, depending on which letter plan you bought.

Medigap is only for people enrolled in Original Medicare. If you're on a Medicare Advantage plan, you can't use a Medigap policy at the same time, and it's actually illegal for someone to sell you one while you're on Advantage.

Why the plans are called by letters

In most states, Medigap plans are standardized by the federal government. That means Plan G sold by one insurance company covers the same core benefits as Plan G sold by another. The price can vary, and customer service can vary, but the benefits inside each lettered plan are set by law.

According to Medicare.gov, the currently sold plans are labeled 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 January 1, 2020. Everyone newly eligible after that date chooses from the remaining letters.

Three states — Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin — standardize their Medigap plans differently. Louisiana uses the standard federal lettering, so what you read on Medicare.gov applies here in Covington.

What Medigap generally helps pay

While each letter offers a different mix, Medigap plans can help cover:

• Part A hospital coinsurance and an extra 365 days of hospital coverage after Medicare benefits are used up
• Part B coinsurance or copayments (usually the 20% Medicare doesn't pay)
• The first three pints of blood each year
• Part A hospice coinsurance or copayments
• Skilled nursing facility coinsurance
• Part A deductible (on most plans)
• Foreign travel emergency care (on some plans, up to plan limits)

Some plans, like K and L, pay a percentage of these costs rather than the full amount, and they include a yearly out-of-pocket limit.

What Medigap does not cover

This is where a lot of confusion starts. Medigap does not cover:

• Prescription drugs — for that, you need a separate Part D plan
• Routine dental, vision, or hearing care
• Long-term care (like a nursing home stay that isn't skilled care)
• Private-duty nursing
• Eyeglasses or hearing aids

If you want drug coverage alongside Original Medicare and Medigap, you'll enroll in a stand-alone Part D plan. For 2026, Part D has a maximum deductible of $615 and a new annual out-of-pocket cap of $2,100, thanks to changes from the Inflation Reduction Act. The old "donut hole" coverage gap was eliminated as of 2025, so Part D now has three phases instead of four. There's also an optional Medicare Prescription Payment Plan that lets you spread your drug costs across the year in monthly installments.

Timing matters — the Medigap open enrollment window

Here's a detail that catches a lot of people off guard: the best time to buy a Medigap policy is during your six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period, which starts the month you're 65 and enrolled in Part B. During that window, insurance companies can't turn you down or charge you more because of health conditions.

After that window closes, in most cases insurers in Louisiana can use medical underwriting — meaning your health history can affect whether you're accepted and what you pay. That's a very different situation from Medicare Advantage, which uses different enrollment rules entirely.

Speaking of Advantage: Covington is in St. Tammany Parish, where residents also have access to a range of Medicare Advantage and Part D plans during the Annual Enrollment Period from October 15 to December 7. Medicare Advantage has its own Open Enrollment Period from January 1 to March 31 for people already in an Advantage plan. Those windows do not apply to Medigap, which has its own rules.

A quick note on cost drivers

Medigap premiums vary by plan letter, by insurance company, by age, and by where you live. Louisiana insurers can price policies using different methods (community-rated, issue-age-rated, or attained-age-rated), and that affects how your premium changes over time. If your income is above $109,000 as a single filer in 2026, you may also pay IRMAA surcharges on Part B and Part D — but those surcharges are separate from your Medigap premium.