Medicare Supplement

Medigap in Plano: how Texas's standardized letter plans fit with Original Medicare

If you live in Plano and you're pairing Original Medicare with a Medicare Supplement policy — often called Medigap — the good news is that the coverage itself is standardized by the federal government. That means a Plan G sold in Plano covers the same gaps as a Plan G sold anywhere else in Texas. What changes from one insurer to another is the price and the customer service, not the benefits inside each lettered plan.

Medicare SupplementPlano, TX

Plano is in Collin County, and Texans shopping for Medigap today can choose from the same standardized letters offered across the state. Below is a plain-English walk-through of how those letters work, how Medigap fits alongside Part D drug coverage, and where to look for Texas-specific rules and rates.

What Medigap actually does

Original Medicare pays a large share of your hospital and doctor bills, but it leaves behind deductibles, coinsurance and copays with no annual out-of-pocket cap. A Medigap policy is private insurance that fills in some or all of those leftover costs.

You pay a monthly premium to the Medigap insurer in addition to your Part B premium. When you use care, Medicare pays first, then your Medigap policy pays its share of what's left, based on the letter you bought.

Medigap does not work with Medicare Advantage. If you have an Advantage plan, you can't also use a Medigap policy — the two are separate paths.

The standardized letters you can buy in Texas today

Federal law defines the lettered plans. If you're newly eligible for Medicare, you can choose from:

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

Plans C and F still exist, but only people who were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020 can buy them.

Each letter covers a specific mix of Medicare's cost-sharing. Plan G, for example, covers most gaps except the Part B deductible. Plan N has lower premiums in exchange for some office-visit copays. Plans K and L pay a percentage of costs until you hit a yearly out-of-pocket limit. High-deductible Plan G works like a regular Plan G but only kicks in after you meet a higher yearly deductible.

The letters cover the same things no matter which company sells them. A Plan G is a Plan G. What differs between insurers is the premium and how that premium changes over time.

How Medigap pairs with Part D

Medigap does not include prescription drug coverage. If you want help paying for medications, you'll add a stand-alone Part D drug plan.

Here are the 2026 Part D program facts worth knowing:

• The maximum Part D deductible is $615.
• Out-of-pocket drug costs are capped at $2,100 for the year.
• The old "donut hole" coverage gap was eliminated in 2025, so Part D now has three phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your drug costs across the year in monthly payments instead of paying all at once at the pharmacy.
• IRMAA surcharges — extra amounts added to Part B and Part D premiums — start above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

You can enroll in or switch a Part D plan during the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 through December 7.

The Texas rules that shape your choice

Texas gives you a federal Medigap Open Enrollment Period: six months that start the first month you're 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. During that window, insurers must sell you any Medigap plan they offer at their best available rate, regardless of your health.

Outside that window, insurers in Texas can generally use medical underwriting — meaning they can look at your health history and decide whether to sell you a policy and at what price — unless you qualify for a federal guaranteed-issue right (for example, if certain coverage you had ends involuntarily).

Texas also has specific rules for how insurers price Medigap and how they can raise rates. Rather than guess, check with the Texas Department of Insurance, which publishes a Medigap rate guide, and with the state's SHIP (Health Information, Counseling and Advocacy Program), which offers free one-on-one help.

How to compare policies in Plano

Because the benefits inside each letter are set by federal rules, comparing is mostly about price and the insurer's track record. A few practical steps:

1. Decide which letter fits how you use care and how much predictability you want. 2. Use the Medicare.gov Medigap policy search, entering a Plano ZIP code, to see the insurers licensed to sell that letter here. 3. Ask each insurer how they price their policy — issue-age, attained-age, or community-rated — because that affects how your premium changes as you get older. 4. Check the Texas Department of Insurance rate guide and complaint records. 5. Call Texas's SHIP for free, unbiased help sorting the options.

The table on this page lists the standardized letters available. No single letter is right for everyone, and no one insurer is right for everyone; the goal is a match with your budget and your health.