Medicare Supplement

Shopping Medigap in Yonkers: how the same Plan G differs by insurer

YONKERS, N.Y. — If you are shopping Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) in Yonkers, here is the single most useful thing to know: a Plan G is a Plan G, and a Plan N is a Plan N, no matter which company sells it. Federal law standardizes the benefits inside each lettered plan. What actually changes from one insurer to the next is how they price the plan, how they raise rates over time, whether they offer household discounts, and — in most states — how they underwrite applicants.

Medicare SupplementYonkers, NY

The letter is the law — the price tag is not

Yonkers is in Westchester County, and Medigap in New York works a little differently than in most of the country. That is worth understanding before you compare carriers side by side.

Who sells Medigap in New York

The insurers currently selling Medigap policies in New York, in alphabetical order, are:

• AARP – UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company of New York
• Bankers Conseco Life Insurance Company
• BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York
• EmblemHealth Services Company
• Globe Life Insurance Company of New York
• Humana (Humana Insurance Company of New York)
• Mutual of Omaha (Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company)
• Univera Healthcare West New York

Not every carrier sells every letter, and some regional Blues plans are focused on other parts of the state. The table below lists every plan letter each insurer offers so you can see, at a glance, who to call about Plan G, Plan N, a high-deductible G, or any other letter you are considering. For people newly eligible for Medicare today, the letters available are A, B, D, G, G-HD, K, L, M and N. Plans C and F are only available to people who were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020.

How Medigap is priced — and why New York is different

In most states, Medigap insurers use one of three pricing methods:

• Community-rated: everyone pays the same premium for the same plan, regardless of age.
• Issue-age rated: your premium is based on the age you were when you bought the policy.
• Attained-age rated: your premium is based on your current age and goes up as you get older.

New York requires community rating for Medigap. That means an insurer selling Plan G in Yonkers must charge the same base premium to a 65-year-old and an 80-year-old for that plan. Your health, gender and tobacco use also cannot be used to set your rate.

Community rating does not mean rates never go up. Insurers can — and do — raise premiums for everyone in a plan over time based on claims experience and medical inflation. That is why looking at an insurer’s rate history matters as much as today’s quoted price. Ask how often the carrier has raised rates on the letter you are considering, and by how much. The New York State Department of Financial Services publishes Medigap rate information you can review before you buy.

Underwriting in New York: the guaranteed-issue rule

In most states, if you try to switch Medigap plans after your six-month Medigap Open Enrollment window closes, an insurer can ask health questions and turn you down or charge more.

New York does not allow that for Medigap. State law requires continuous open enrollment and guaranteed issue for Medigap policies. You can apply for any Medigap plan an insurer sells to New York residents, at any time of year, without answering health questions. Pre-existing conditions cannot be used to deny you coverage, though a limited waiting period for a pre-existing condition can apply in some cases if you did not have prior creditable coverage.

That rule changes how you shop. In many states, Medigap is a one-shot decision at age 65. In Yonkers, you have more flexibility to reconsider your plan letter or your carrier later on.

Household discounts and other differences to ask about

Even with community rating, insurers can compete on a few points beyond the base premium:

• Household or spousal discounts. Some carriers reduce premiums when two people in the same household are enrolled. Rules and amounts vary — ask each carrier directly.
• Payment method discounts. Some insurers give a small break for electronic funds transfer or annual payment.
• Rate stability. Two carriers selling the same letter can have very different histories of annual increases.
• Customer service and claims handling. Because the benefits are identical, service quality is a real differentiator.

None of these can turn one insurer into a “better” Plan G than another — the covered benefits are identical by law — but they can affect what the policy costs you over the years you hold it.

How to compare, step by step

1. Decide which plan letter fits how you use care. Plan G and Plan N are the most common choices for people newly eligible today; high-deductible G is another option. 2. Use the Medigap policy search on Medicare.gov to see which insurers offer that letter in your ZIP code and pull up sample premium ranges. 3. Check the New York State Department of Financial Services rate guide for recent premium history on that letter and carrier. 4. Call two or three carriers from the table below and ask about household discounts, payment discounts, and their most recent rate change. 5. If you want free, unbiased help, contact New York’s State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), known here as HIICAP (Health Insurance Information, Counseling and Assistance Program). Westchester County runs a local HIICAP office.