Medicare Supplement

Shopping for Medigap in Nashville? Here are the plan letters Tennessee sells today

NASHVILLE — If you have Original Medicare and you are trying to fill in the gaps it leaves behind — the Part A deductible, the 20% Part B coinsurance, the hospital days that pile up — a Medicare Supplement policy, better known as Medigap, is one way people do it. In Tennessee, the policies you can buy are the same federally standardized plans sold in most other states, sorted by letter. Here is what a Nashville shopper needs to know before comparing them.

Medicare SupplementNashville, TN

What Medigap is — and what it is not

Medigap is private insurance that pays some of the out-of-pocket costs Original Medicare (Part A and Part B) leaves you with. It only works alongside Original Medicare. If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, you cannot use a Medigap policy with it, and it is generally illegal for someone to sell you one.

Medigap also does not cover prescription drugs. To get drug coverage, most people with Medigap add a stand-alone Part D plan.

The plan letters you can buy in Tennessee

Tennessee follows the federal standardized Medigap letters. If you are newly eligible for Medicare today, the plans available to you are:

• Plan A
• Plan B
• Plan D
• Plan G
• Plan G high-deductible
• Plan K
• Plan L
• Plan M
• Plan N

Plans C and F are still in force for people who already have them, and they can still be sold to people who became eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020. If you turned 65 after that date, they are not on your menu.

Every Plan G, for example, covers the same core set of benefits no matter which insurer sells it. That is the whole point of standardization: the letter tells you the benefits. What changes from company to company is the premium, the customer service, and how rates rise as you age.

How Medigap pairs with Original Medicare and Part D

A typical Nashville setup looks like this:

• Part A and Part B (Original Medicare) pay the biggest share of your hospital and doctor costs.
• A Medigap plan picks up some or all of the deductibles, coinsurance and copays Original Medicare leaves.
• A stand-alone Part D plan covers your prescriptions.

In 2026, Part D has a $2,100 annual out-of-pocket cap and a maximum deductible of $615. The old coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone as of 2025 — Part D now has three phases. If your drug costs come in big waves, you can also ask your Part D plan about the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which spreads what you owe across the year in level monthly bills.

The state rules that shape your choice

Nashville is in Davidson County, but Medigap rules are set by the state and by federal law, not by county. A few things to keep in mind:

• Your open enrollment window matters most. You get a one-time, six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period that starts the month you are 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. During that window, insurers must sell you any Medigap they offer at their best available rate, regardless of your health.
• Outside that window, medical underwriting usually applies. An insurer can ask about your health and can charge more or turn you down, unless you qualify for a federal guaranteed-issue right (for example, if a plan leaves your area).
• How premiums are priced varies. Insurers may use community-rated, issue-age or attained-age pricing. Two policies with the same letter can rise very differently over time depending on the method, so ask.
• Any state-specific rights — such as extra guarantee-issue situations beyond federal law — are best confirmed with the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance and Tennessee SHIP.

How to shop the plans in Nashville

Because Medigap benefits are standardized, comparing is really about the insurers behind each letter. To see who sells which plan in your ZIP code:

• Use the Medigap policy search on Medicare.gov.
• Ask the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance for its Medigap rate guide.
• Call Tennessee SHIP for free, unbiased counseling.

The table below lists every plan letter available in the state along with the core benefits attached to it, so you can see, letter by letter, what a policy is required to cover before you compare quotes.