Medicare Supplement

Turning 65 in Amarillo? Which Medigap letters you can buy

AMARILLO, Texas — If you have a Medigap policy in the Panhandle, or you are shopping for one for the first time, a few moving pieces are worth paying attention to as 2026 opens. The standardized plan letters you can buy have not been redrawn, but the rules around who can buy which letter, the Part B deductible that Plans G and N pay around, and the annual rate filings insurers submit to the state all reset on their own schedules — and they shape what your coverage actually costs.

Medicare SupplementAmarillo, TX

Here is a plain-language look at what is changing, what is staying the same, and how an Amarillo reader can check the specifics before signing anything.

The plan letters you can actually buy

Medigap plans are standardized by letter, which means a Plan G from one company covers the same Medicare-defined benefits as a Plan G from another. What differs is the price, the customer service, and sometimes optional extras.

If you became eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020, you cannot buy Plans C or F — those two plans pay the Part B deductible, and federal law closed them to newly eligible enrollees. You can still choose from Plans A, B, D, G, G-HD (a high-deductible version of G), K, L, M and N. If you were eligible before that 2020 cutoff, C and F remain available to you if a carrier still sells them.

Plan G and Plan N have become the most common choices for people new to Medicare, largely because they fill in most of what Original Medicare leaves behind after you pay the Part B deductible.

Why the Part B deductible reset matters

Every January 1, the Part B deductible starts over. That matters for Medigap because Plans G and N are designed to pick up most of your Part B cost-sharing after you pay that deductible yourself for the year. Plan N also leaves you with some copays for office and emergency room visits, and it does not cover Part B excess charges.

The dollar amount of the Part B deductible for 2026 is set by CMS. You can confirm the current figure at medicare.gov before you budget for the year — do not rely on last year's number.

Rate-adjustment season in Texas

Medigap premiums are not set by Medicare. Each insurer files its rates with the Texas Department of Insurance, and those filings are typically adjusted once a year. That is why two neighbors in Amarillo, both with a Plan G, can pay noticeably different premiums — they may have bought from different companies, at different ages, or in different rating years.

Three things to know before you shop:

• Rating method matters. Texas insurers may use community-rated, issue-age-rated, or attained-age-rated pricing. Attained-age policies typically go up as you get older; the others do not, at least not for that reason.
• Rate changes are public. You can ask the Texas Department of Insurance (tdi.texas.gov) about filings, and you can request the carrier's rate history before you buy.
• Same letter, different price. Because the benefits are standardized, comparing Plan G to Plan G across carriers is a fair apples-to-apples comparison.

Which insurers sell Medigap in Texas

Amarillo is in Potter County (with parts in Randall County), and Medigap availability in Texas is set at the state level rather than the county level — the same carriers licensed to sell in Texas can generally sell to you here. The table below lists every insurer and the plan letters they offer statewide, drawn from Medicare.gov's Medigap policy search.

Well-known names in the Texas market include AARP - UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company, Aetna Health Insurance Company, BlueCross BlueShield of Texas, Humana (Emphesys Insurance Company), Mutual of Omaha (Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company), State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and Texas Farm Bureau Health Plans, among others. Carriers can enter or leave the market between plan years, so it is worth confirming current availability at medicare.gov or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE before you assume a company still sells in Texas.

Your guaranteed-issue window

The most important consumer-protection rule in Medigap has not changed. When you first enroll in Medicare Part B at age 65 or older, you get a one-time, 6-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period. During that window, any Medigap carrier selling in Texas must sell you any plan they offer, at their best available rate for your age, without asking health questions.

After that window closes, Texas generally allows medical underwriting on Medigap applications, which means a carrier can charge more or decline you based on your health. There are a few limited "guaranteed issue" situations — for example, losing certain other coverage — but they do not replace that first 6-month window.

If you are turning 65 in 2026 in Amarillo, mark that six-month window on your calendar. It is the easiest time to switch, and the most protected.

How to check the specifics before you buy

• Use the Medigap policy search at medicare.gov to see which carriers are currently offering which plan letters to a Texas ZIP code.
• Ask each insurer for a rate quote in writing, along with the rating method (community, issue-age, or attained-age) and their recent rate history.
• Call the Texas Health Information, Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP), the state's SHIP, for free one-on-one help. You can reach SHIP through medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE.
• Confirm the current Part B deductible on medicare.gov so you know what a Plan G or Plan N will leave you paying at the start of the year.