Medicare Supplement

Medigap Rates in Kingsport: Same Medicare Benefits, Different Prices

KINGSPORT, Tenn. — If you're new to Medicare or helping a parent sort through the mail piling up on the kitchen table, you've probably run into a puzzle: what are those Medigap "letter plans," and why do they matter?

Making sense of Medigap in Kingsport

Medicare Supplement Insurance — better known as Medigap — is sold by private insurance companies to help cover some of the out-of-pocket costs Original Medicare (Part A and Part B) leaves behind. Things like coinsurance, copayments, and the Part A hospital deductible. It's a different animal from Medicare Advantage, and understanding the difference can save you a lot of confusion later.

What Medigap actually does

Medigap works alongside Original Medicare. When you get care, Medicare pays its share first, and then your Medigap policy pays its share of what's left, based on the plan you chose.

A few key points to keep in mind:

• You must be enrolled in Part A and Part B to buy a Medigap policy.
• Medigap policies generally do not include prescription drug coverage. For that, you'd add a stand-alone Part D plan.
• You cannot have both a Medicare Advantage plan and a Medigap policy at the same time. It's one lane or the other.
• Medigap policies only cover one person. Spouses each need their own.

The lettered plans, explained

Here's where the alphabet comes in. In most states, including Tennessee, Medigap plans are standardized and labeled with letters: A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N. (Plans C and F are only available to people who became eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020.)

Standardized means the benefits inside a given letter are the same from company to company. A Plan G sold by one carrier covers the same gaps as a Plan G sold by another carrier. What can differ is the price, the customer service, and things like household discounts.

That's the part many Kingsport readers tell us surprised them: if the coverage inside Plan G is identical everywhere, the shopping question becomes about cost and the company behind the policy — not the benefit chart.

How this looks locally

Kingsport sits in Sullivan County, and Medicare plan availability — including Medigap carriers licensed to sell here — is set at the state and county level, not the city level. Tennessee follows the federal standardized-plan structure, so the letter definitions you read on Medicare.gov apply the same way here as they do in Bristol or Johnson City.

If you want a list of Medigap policies available in your ZIP code, the official plan finder at Medicare.gov lets you search by carrier and letter, and you can call each company (or a licensed agent) for a current rate quote.

The best time to buy — and why timing matters

Medigap has its own enrollment rules that trip a lot of people up. Your Medigap Open Enrollment Period is a one-time, six-month window that starts the month you're both 65 or older and enrolled in Part B.

During that window, you have a "guaranteed issue" right — insurance companies can't turn you down or charge you more because of your health history. Outside that window, in most cases, carriers in Tennessee can use medical underwriting, which means health questions and possibly a higher premium or a denial.

That timing rule is separate from the Medicare enrollment dates you hear about every fall:

• Annual Enrollment Period: October 15 – December 7 (for Part D and Medicare Advantage changes).
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: January 1 – March 31.

Those windows apply to Advantage and Part D — not to Medigap specifically — but they're a good annual reminder to check that your overall coverage still fits.

A quick word on Part D, since it usually rides along

Because Medigap doesn't cover prescriptions, most people with a Medigap policy also carry a stand-alone Part D drug plan. A few 2026 numbers worth knowing:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615.
• The old coverage gap (the "donut hole") was eliminated in 2025; Part D now has three phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your drug costs across the year in monthly amounts if that helps your budget.
• IRMAA income surcharges for Part B and Part D begin above $109,000 for a single filer in 2026.