Medicare Supplement

How Medigap's Letter Plans Work: A Draper Guide

If you live in Draper and have Original Medicare, you've probably heard about Medicare Supplement Insurance — also called Medigap. And if you've ever tried to shop for one, you've likely run into a puzzling alphabet: Plan A, Plan B, Plan D, Plan G, Plan K, Plan N, and a few others.

Making Sense of Medigap in Draper

The good news? Once you understand how the lettered plans work, the whole system gets a lot easier to navigate. Here's a plain-language guide to what Medigap does, why the letters exist, and how to think through your options.

What Medigap Actually Does

Medigap is private insurance you can buy to help pay some of the out-of-pocket costs that Original Medicare (Part A and Part B) leaves behind. Think of things like coinsurance, copayments, and the Part A hospital deductible.

A few key points to keep in mind:

• Medigap only works with Original Medicare. It doesn't work with Medicare Advantage.
• You pay a monthly premium for a Medigap policy, in addition to your Part B premium.
• Medigap generally does not include prescription drug coverage. For that, you'd add a separate Part D plan.
• Medigap doesn't cover long-term care, dental, vision, or hearing.

For the official rundown, Medicare.gov is the best starting point.

Why the Letters Exist

Here's the part that trips people up: Medigap plans are standardized by the federal government. That means a Plan G sold by one insurance company covers exactly the same Medicare-approved costs as a Plan G sold by another company.

The letters (A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N) each represent a different, fixed set of benefits. Companies can charge different premiums and offer different customer service, but the core benefits within a letter are identical.

A couple of exceptions to know:

• Plans C and F are only available to people who became eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020. If you turned 65 after that date, you can't newly enroll in them.
• Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin standardize their Medigap plans differently. Utah — including Draper — follows the standard federal lettering.

How to Think About Choosing a Letter

Since the benefits inside each letter are set by law, choosing really comes down to two questions:

1. How much cost-sharing are you comfortable handling yourself? Plans like G cover more upfront. Plans like K, L, and N ask you to share more of certain costs in exchange for typically lower premiums. 2. What does the premium look like from different carriers? Because a Plan G is a Plan G, comparing premiums across companies is a fair apples-to-apples exercise.

Draper is in Salt Lake County, where multiple insurance carriers offer Medigap policies. You can compare available Medigap policies in your ZIP code using the plan finder at Medicare.gov.

The Enrollment Window That Matters Most

The single most important date in Medigap is the start of your Medigap Open Enrollment Period. This is a six-month window that begins the month you're 65 or older and enrolled in Part B.

During this window:

• You have a guaranteed issue right to buy any Medigap plan sold in Utah.
• Insurers can't charge you more or turn you down because of health conditions.

After this window closes, insurance companies in most cases can use medical underwriting — meaning your health history can affect whether you're accepted or what you're charged. There are some limited special situations that trigger guaranteed issue rights later, but the six-month window is by far the most protective.

How Medigap Fits With the Rest of Medicare

It helps to see the whole picture:

• Part A and Part B (Original Medicare) — your base coverage.
• Medigap — helps with Original Medicare's out-of-pocket costs.
• Part D — a separate prescription drug plan. In 2026, Part D has a $2,100 annual out-of-pocket cap and a maximum deductible of $615. The old "donut hole" has been eliminated as of 2025.
• Medicare Advantage (Part C) — a different path altogether that replaces Original Medicare. You can't use Medigap with Advantage.

Also worth knowing for 2026: IRMAA surcharges — extra amounts added to Part B and Part D premiums for higher earners — begin above $109,000 in income for a single filer.