Medicare Supplement

Medigap Plan Letters Explained: A Matthews Guide

If you live in Matthews and you've started shopping for a Medicare Supplement policy, you've probably run into a wall of letters: Plan A, Plan G, Plan N, Plan K, and more. It can feel like alphabet soup. The good news is that these letters aren't random — they're a federal shorthand that makes Medigap policies easier to compare, not harder.

Matthews, N.C. — The letters behind Medigap, made simple

Here's how the standardized letter system works, what Medigap actually does, and the mistakes to sidestep before you pick a plan.

What Medigap is — and what it isn't

A Medicare Supplement Insurance policy, often called Medigap, is private insurance you can buy to help pay some of the out-of-pocket costs Original Medicare (Part A and Part B) leaves behind. That includes things like coinsurance, copayments, and, in some cases, the Part A hospital deductible.

A few important points from Medicare.gov:

• Medigap only works with Original Medicare. It does not work with Medicare Advantage.
• You must have both Part A and Part B to buy a Medigap policy.
• Medigap does not include prescription drug coverage. For drugs, you'd add a separate Part D plan.
• You pay a monthly premium to the private insurer, in addition to your Part B premium.

Think of Medigap as a wraparound for the gaps in Original Medicare — hence the name.

Why the letters exist

Before the letters, Medigap policies were all over the place, and shoppers had a hard time telling them apart. Congress standardized them so that a Plan G sold by one company covers the same core benefits as a Plan G sold by another company. The letter tells you the benefit package, not the brand.

In most states, including North Carolina, Medigap comes in these standardized letter plans: A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N. (Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have their own systems.)

Because benefits are standardized, the practical differences between two companies selling the same letter plan usually come down to:

• Monthly premium
• The company's reputation and customer service
• How the company raises premiums over time
• Extras a few carriers add on (like limited fitness or dental perks)

What the letters generally cover

Every standardized Medigap plan must cover a core set of benefits, including Part A hospital coinsurance and an extra 365 days of hospital coverage after Medicare benefits are used up. Beyond that core, coverage varies letter by letter. According to Medicare.gov:

• Plans C and F include coverage of the Part B deductible — but these are only available to people who became eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020. If you became eligible on or after that date, you can't buy C or F.
• Plan G is similar to Plan F but does not cover the Part B deductible. It's a common option for people newly eligible.
• Plan N typically has lower premiums but may include small copays for certain office and ER visits.
• Plans K and L are cost-sharing plans with lower premiums and an annual out-of-pocket limit.

For a side-by-side chart of exactly what each letter covers, the official source is Medicare.gov's "Compare Medigap plan benefits" tool.

Timing matters more than most people realize

The single biggest mistake Matthews readers tell us about is misunderstanding when they can buy Medigap without medical underwriting.

Your Medigap Open Enrollment Period is a one-time, 6-month window that starts the month you're 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. During that window:

• Insurers must sell you any Medigap policy they offer.
• They can't charge you more because of health problems.
• They can't turn you down.

After that 6-month window closes, in most cases insurance companies can use medical underwriting. That means they can ask health questions, charge more, or decline you — unless you qualify for a limited "guaranteed issue" right. North Carolina does not have the broader year-round guaranteed-issue rules some states offer, so timing your decision carefully really matters.

Medigap vs. Medicare Advantage — don't mix them up

This is where a lot of confusion lives. Medigap and Medicare Advantage are two different paths, not add-ons to each other:

• Original Medicare + Medigap + a Part D drug plan is one path.
• Medicare Advantage (Part C), which bundles Part A, Part B, and usually Part D through a private plan, is the other.

You cannot use a Medigap policy to pay costs under a Medicare Advantage plan. If you're enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan in Matthews — which sits in Mecklenburg County, where a range of Advantage and stand-alone drug plans are offered each year — a Medigap policy won't apply to your cost-sharing there.

Switching between the two paths is allowed at certain times, but it can involve underwriting for Medigap, so it's worth talking through before you make a move.

A quick note on 2026 drug costs

Medigap doesn't cover prescriptions, but many readers ask about drugs in the same conversation. A few program-level facts worth knowing for 2026, from Medicare.gov:

• Part D has a new $2,100 annual out-of-pocket cap on covered drugs.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615.
• The old coverage gap (the "donut hole") has been eliminated as of 2025; Part D now has three phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your covered drug costs into monthly payments if you choose.
• IRMAA income-related surcharges for Part B and Part D begin above $109,000 for a single filer in 2026.