Medicare Supplement

How Oregon Medigap insurers set prices for the same plan

In Portland, one of the most useful things to know about Medicare Supplement Insurance — better known as Medigap — is also one of the least advertised: a Plan G is a Plan G, no matter which company sells it. The federal government standardized these plans, so the coverage inside each lettered plan is identical from insurer to insurer. What changes is the price, how that price is set, and what an insurer asks of you when you apply.

That means shopping Medigap in Oregon is less about hunting for a "better" Plan G and more about comparing the same coverage across the companies that sell it here. Here is how to do that fairly, and where to find the current list of insurers licensed in Oregon.

The plan letters you can actually buy in Oregon

If you are aging into Medicare now, the standardized plans available to you are A, B, D, G, G High-Deductible, K, L, M and N. Plans C and F are still sold, but only to people who were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020.

Each letter is a fixed benefit package written into federal law. A Plan N from one Oregon insurer covers the same Medicare cost-sharing as a Plan N from any other. So when people ask which company has the "best" Plan G, the honest answer is that the coverage is the same — the differences are in price and in company practices.

Who sells Medigap in Portland

We are not listing insurers by name here, because the roster changes and the most current picture comes straight from official sources. Two are especially useful for a Portland resident:

• Medicare.gov Medigap policy search. Enter your ZIP code at medicare.gov and you will see every insurer offering each plan letter in your area, along with contact information.
• Oregon Division of Financial Regulation's Medigap rate guide. Oregon publishes a consumer rate guide that lists licensed Medigap insurers and their filed rates by age. It is one of the most useful state guides in the country for side-by-side comparisons.
• Oregon SHIBA, the state's Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance program (Oregon's SHIP), offers free, unbiased help by phone and through local counselors.

Between those three, you can build a complete list of the companies selling each plan letter in Multnomah County.

The three pricing methods — this is the big one

Two insurers can sell the same Plan G and price it very differently over time because of how they calculate premiums. In Oregon, you will see three approaches:

• Attained-age rated. The premium is based on your current age and generally goes up as you get older, in addition to any across-the-board increases.
• Issue-age rated. The premium is based on the age you were when you bought the policy. It still rises with inflation and claims, but not because you had another birthday.
• Community-rated. Everyone in the same area pays the same base premium, regardless of age.

None of these is automatically "cheaper." An attained-age policy often starts lower and climbs; an issue-age or community-rated policy may start higher but rise more slowly. The right question is which pattern fits your budget over 10 or 20 years, not just next year.

Rate history, household discounts and underwriting

Once you know the pricing method, three more things separate one insurer's Plan G from another's:

Rate history. Ask how much the insurer has raised premiums on that specific plan letter in Oregon over the past several years. The state rate guide and the insurer itself can share this. A low introductory price means less if the plan has had steep annual increases.

Household discounts. Many Medigap insurers offer a discount — often around 5% to 12% — when a spouse or another adult in the household is also enrolled, or sometimes just for living with another adult. The rules vary by company, so ask directly.

Medical underwriting. During your six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period (which starts when you are 65 or older and enrolled in Part B), insurers must sell you any plan they offer at their standard rate, regardless of your health. Outside that window, and outside a guaranteed-issue situation, Oregon insurers can generally use medical underwriting — meaning they can ask health questions and decline you or charge more. If you are shopping later in life or switching plans, ask each insurer what their underwriting looks like.

How to actually compare, step by step

1. Decide which plan letter fits your needs (G, N and High-Deductible G are the most common choices for new enrollees). 2. Pull the list of insurers selling that letter in your Portland ZIP code from Medicare.gov. 3. For each one, note the pricing method, current rate for your age, recent rate-increase history, and any household discount. 4. Confirm whether you are in your Medigap Open Enrollment Period or a guaranteed-issue situation, so you know whether underwriting applies. 5. Call two or three finalists, or work through Oregon SHIBA, before you apply.

The table below lists the plan letters available to newly eligible Oregonians so you can see, at a glance, what to shop for.

Where Medigap fits with the rest of Medicare

Medigap works alongside Original Medicare, not Medicare Advantage. If you keep Original Medicare and add a Medigap policy, you will also want a stand-alone Part D drug plan. A few 2026 Part D facts worth keeping in mind while you plan:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026.
• The maximum Part D deductible is $615.
• The coverage gap (the old "donut hole") is gone as of 2025.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the year in monthly installments.
• IRMAA surcharges on Part B and Part D begin above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

The Annual Enrollment Period for Part D and Medicare Advantage runs October 15 to December 7. Medigap has its own rules and no annual open enrollment window — you can apply any time, but underwriting may apply outside your one-time Medigap Open Enrollment Period.