Medicare Supplement

Shopping Medigap in Frisco: how the same Plan G can look different at each insurer

Frisco sits in Collin County, where a Medicare-eligible resident shopping for a Medicare Supplement (Medigap) policy will find a long list of insurers selling the same standardized plan letters. That's where the confusion usually starts: if Plan G is Plan G everywhere, why does the shopping feel so complicated? The short answer is that the coverage is identical, but the way each company prices it, raises rates over time, offers household discounts, and decides whether to accept you can look very different.

Medicare SupplementFrisco, TX

This guide walks through what actually varies from insurer to insurer in Texas, so you can compare apples to apples.

The plan letter is the same — the insurer is not

Medigap policies are standardized by federal law. A Plan G sold by one company pays the same benefits as a Plan G sold by another. Same with Plan N, Plan K, Plan L, and the high-deductible versions of G. So when you compare Plan G across insurers, you are not comparing coverage — you are comparing the company behind it.

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 only available to people who were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020.

The table below lists every insurer selling Medigap in Texas and which plan letters each one offers. That is your starting roster.

How Texas insurers price the same plan

Three pricing methods are allowed, and Texas insurers may use any of them. This is the single biggest reason two companies can quote very different premiums for the same Plan G.

• Attained-age rated. The premium is based on your current age and generally goes up as you get older, on top of any across-the-board increases.
• Issue-age rated. The premium is based on the age you were when you bought the policy. It doesn't increase just because you have a birthday, though it can still go up for other reasons like inflation or claims trends.
• Community rated. Everyone who has the policy pays the same base premium regardless of age. Your rate can still change over time, but not because you got older.

An attained-age policy often looks cheapest at 65 and grows faster later. An issue-age or community-rated policy may start higher and grow more slowly. Neither is automatically better — it depends on how long you plan to keep the policy and how you want your budget to behave in your 70s and 80s.

Rate history matters more than the first-year price

Any insurer can offer an attractive starting premium. What you want to know is what happened to that premium over the last five or ten years for people already on the plan. The Texas Department of Insurance publishes a Medicare Supplement rate guide that shows sample premiums by company, and Medicare.gov's Medigap policy search lets you pull rates by ZIP code. Ask any agent you speak with for the company's rate-increase history in Texas, not just this year's quote.

Household and spousal discounts

Several Texas insurers offer a discount when more than one adult in the household has a policy with them, or when a spouse also enrolls. The size of the discount and the rules — whether both people have to be on Medigap, whether they have to live together, whether it applies at renewal — vary by company. This is worth asking about directly, because a discount can offset a higher base rate.

Underwriting: when the insurer can say no

During your Medigap Open Enrollment Period — the six months that start the month you're 65 or older and enrolled in Part B — insurers in Texas must sell you any Medigap plan they offer, at their standard rate, regardless of your health. That is guaranteed issue.

Outside that window, most insurers can use medical underwriting. They can ask health questions and decline you, charge more, or make you wait. A few limited guaranteed-issue rights exist (for example, if you lose other coverage through no fault of your own), but they are narrow. If you are past your open enrollment window and thinking about switching, ask each company what its underwriting looks like before you apply, because a denial can affect other applications.

How to actually compare

A practical way to shop:

1. Decide on the plan letter first — G, N, and high-deductible G are the ones most new enrollees compare. 2. Use the Medicare.gov Medigap policy search for your Frisco ZIP code to see which insurers offer that letter and pull sample rates. 3. Cross-check with the Texas Department of Insurance's Medicare Supplement rate guide for rate-increase history. 4. For each insurer on your short list, ask: What pricing method do you use? What have your rate changes been in Texas the last five years? Do you offer a household discount? Will underwriting apply to me? 5. Call your local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), known in Texas as HICAP, for free one-on-one help. They don't sell anything.