Medicare Supplement

Before you switch Medigap in Grand Rapids: the 2026 rules, resets and rate filings to check

GRAND RAPIDS — As 2026 approaches, Medigap shoppers in Kent County are heading into the part of the year when rate filings land at the state, the Part B deductible resets, and the rules about which lettered plans you can even buy come back into focus. Here is what to know before you make a change.

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What actually changes at the turn of the year

Medigap does not have an "annual enrollment period" the way Medicare Advantage and Part D do. The letters — A, B, D, G, G-HD, K, L, M and N for people newly eligible today — are set by federal law and do not change from year to year. What does change is quieter: the Part B deductible resets on January 1, insurers refile their rates for the coming year, and carriers occasionally add or drop a state.

If you already have a Medigap policy, it renews automatically as long as you pay the premium. You are not required to shop it each fall. But many Grand Rapids readers do want to compare, and the winter months are when the newest numbers become available.

The plan-letter rules to know

Two rules trip people up more than any others.

First, Plans C and F are closed to newly eligible enrollees. If you became eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020, you cannot buy them, even though insurers still sell them to people who qualified earlier. This is why Plan G has become the most familiar "full coverage" letter for newer beneficiaries — it looks a lot like Plan F, minus the Part B deductible.

Second, Plans G and N are designed around the Part B deductible. With Plan G, you pay that deductible yourself each year and the policy picks up the rest of what Medicare-approved Part B services would cost. Plan N works similarly, with small copays for some office and emergency room visits. When the deductible resets each January, so does the amount you would pay out of pocket before your Medigap kicks in. The 2026 figure is posted at medicare.gov/basics/costs.

High-deductible versions of Plan G (listed as G-HD in the table) work differently again: you meet a separate, higher deductible before the policy pays.

Rate-adjustment season in Michigan

Unlike Medicare Advantage and Part D, where CMS publishes plan costs each fall, Medigap premiums in Michigan are filed by each insurer with the state's Department of Insurance and Financial Services. Two policies with the exact same letter — say, Plan G — cover the exact same things by law, but the monthly premium can be very different from one company to the next, and can change year to year.

If you want to see what has been filed, DIFS publishes a Medigap rate guide and a searchable filings database at michigan.gov/difs. Medicare.gov's Medigap policy search also shows current premium ranges by ZIP code, which is a reasonable starting point for a Grand Rapids 49503 or 49546 lookup.

One thing worth remembering: the price you see quoted may depend on your age, whether you use tobacco, and when you first enrolled. That is why comparing "Plan G at Company A vs. Company B" is not always apples to apples on premium alone.

Who sells Medigap in Michigan

The table below lists every insurer currently selling Medigap policies in Michigan, along with the lettered plans each one offers. A few names to notice as you scan it: AARP – UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Health Alliance Plan of Michigan, McLaren Health Plan Inc, Priority Health Insurance Company and Michigan Farm Bureau Health Plans all appear on the Michigan list, alongside national carriers such as Aetna (Continental Life), Humana, Mutual of Omaha and State Farm.

Carriers occasionally enter or leave a state, or add or drop a specific plan letter. If a carrier or letter you expected to see is missing from the current table, that is your cue to check directly at medicare.gov or with DIFS before assuming a policy is still available.

When you can switch without medical questions

This is the piece most Grand Rapids readers wish they had known earlier: outside of your one-time, six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period (which starts the month you are both 65 and enrolled in Part B), insurers in Michigan can generally use medical underwriting. That means they can ask health questions and can decline you or charge more based on the answers.

There are a handful of federal "guaranteed issue" situations — for example, if a Medicare Advantage plan leaves your area or you move out of its service area — where you have a limited window to buy certain Medigap plans without underwriting. If you think one of those may apply to you, call 1-800-MEDICARE or Michigan's SHIP counselors (the Medicare/Medicaid Assistance Program, MMAP) at 1-800-803-7174 before you drop any coverage.

How to decide what to do this season

A simple order of operations for Grand Rapids readers:

1. Check the 2026 Part B deductible on medicare.gov so you know what "Plan G leaves you responsible for" actually means in dollars next year. 2. Pull your current Medigap renewal notice and note the new premium. 3. Compare that against filings for the same letter at other Michigan carriers, using medicare.gov's Medigap search or DIFS. 4. Before you cancel anything, confirm whether you would need to answer health questions to switch. 5. If any of this is unclear, talk to MMAP — the counseling is free and not tied to any insurer.