Medicare Supplement

Same Medigap Plan G in Eugene: here's what actually differs between insurers

If you live in Eugene and you're shopping for a Medicare Supplement (Medigap) policy, the most useful thing to know upfront is this: the letter is the coverage. A Plan G is a Plan G. A Plan N is a Plan N. Federal rules standardize what each lettered plan pays, so the benefits do not change from one insurance company to the next.

The subject: same letter, different companies

What does change — sometimes quite a bit — is how each company prices that plan, how often it raises rates, whether it offers a household discount, and whether it will ask health questions before it agrees to sell you the policy.

Eugene is in Lane County, and Medigap is regulated at the state level, so the same slate of insurers approved to sell Medigap in Oregon is available to Eugene residents. The table below lists every insurer and the plan letters each one currently sells in the state.

Which plan letters you can actually buy today

People newly eligible for Medicare today can choose from Plans A, B, D, G, G-HD, K, L, M and N. Plans C and F are still around, but only for people who were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020.

Not every insurer sells every letter. AARP – UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company, for example, sells a different mix than AFLAC or Moda Health Plan, Inc. or Regence Blue Cross BlueShield of Oregon. When you narrow to the letter you want — say Plan G or Plan N — your real choice is which company to buy that letter from.

The three pricing methods (this is the big one)

Two people can buy the same plan letter on the same day and pay very different premiums because insurers are allowed to price Medigap in three different ways in Oregon:

• Attained-age rated. The premium is based on your current age and generally goes up as you get older. It often looks lowest at 65 and rises over time.
• Issue-age rated. The premium is based on the age you were when you first bought the policy. It doesn't go up just because you have another birthday, though it can still rise for other reasons.
• Community rated (also called "no-age-rated"). Everyone who buys that plan from that company in the state pays the same base premium, regardless of age.

All three methods can still see increases from inflation and medical costs. But the shape of those increases over 10 or 20 years can look very different, which is why the cheapest policy at 65 is not automatically the cheapest policy at 78. When you call an insurer or a broker, ask which method they use — it is a fair, direct question.

Rate history, household discounts and underwriting

Beyond the pricing method, three more things separate one company's Plan G from another's:

Rate history. Ask how often the company has raised rates on Oregon policyholders in the last five to ten years, and by how much. The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation publishes a Medicare Supplement rate guide that shows recent premium changes by company — it is one of the most useful documents in the state for this exact comparison.

Household discount. Several insurers offer a discount if you live with another adult, or if your spouse or partner also has a policy with the company. The size of the discount and who qualifies (spouse only, any adult in the household, etc.) varies. It is worth asking every company on your short list.

Underwriting. This is the health-questions part. During your Medigap Open Enrollment Period — the six months that start when you're 65 or older and enrolled in Part B — an insurer must sell you any Medigap plan it offers, at its best available rate, regardless of your health. Outside that window, most insurers in Oregon can use medical underwriting to decide whether to accept you and at what price. Timing matters.

How to actually compare, step by step

1. Pick the plan letter you want first, based on how much cost-sharing you're comfortable with. The letters are the same at every insurer, so this decision is independent of company. 2. Go to Medicare.gov's Medigap policy search, enter your ZIP code, and pull up the insurers that sell that letter in Oregon. 3. Pull the current Oregon Medicare Supplement rate guide from the Division of Financial Regulation website. Look at both the current premium range and the rate-change history for each company on your list. 4. Call two or three insurers (or an independent broker who represents multiple companies) and ask each one: What pricing method do you use? Do you offer a household discount? What has your average annual rate increase been? Will you underwrite me based on my situation? 5. Compare apples to apples — same plan letter, same age, same ZIP.