Medicare Supplement

Before January's Part B Deductible Resets in Vancouver

VANCOUVER, Wash. — As 2026 approaches, Medicare shoppers in Clark County are asking the same practical questions about Medigap: which lettered plans they can still buy, what happens when the Part B deductible resets in January, whether their premium is about to change, and which insurers are still selling in Washington. Here is a plain-language look at what is shifting for the coming year, and where to check the numbers that apply to you.

Medicare SupplementVancouver, WA

What "changing for 2026" really means with Medigap

Medigap is different from Medicare Advantage or Part D. There is no yearly Annual Enrollment Period where you must re-shop it, and plans do not "leave a county" the way Advantage plans sometimes do. The moving parts each year are narrower:

• Which lettered plans you are allowed to buy, based on when you first became eligible for Medicare.
• The federal Part B deductible amount, which resets January 1 and affects how Plans G and N work.
• Rate adjustments that insurers file with the Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner.
• Which insurers are actively selling Medigap in the state.

Vancouver is in Clark County, but Medigap plans in Washington are standardized and regulated at the state level, so the insurer list and plan letters here are the same across the state.

Plan-letter eligibility: who can buy what

If you are becoming eligible for Medicare now, the standardized letters open to you are A, B, D, G, G-HD (high-deductible G), K, L, M, and N. Plans C and F are only available to people who were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020. That rule is not new for 2026, but it still trips up people who see a parent or neighbor on Plan F and assume it is an option for them — it usually is not.

Washington also has its own consumer protection: under state rules, Medigap enrollees generally have an annual window to switch to a plan of equal or lesser benefits with the same or a different insurer, without new medical underwriting. Your local SHIBA counselor (Washington's SHIP) can walk you through how that works in your situation.

The Part B deductible reset and why Plans G and N notice it

Plans G and N both leave the Part B deductible for you to pay before the Medigap coverage kicks in for Part B services. That deductible is a federal figure that resets every January 1. Medicare publishes the new amount for 2026 on medicare.gov before the year starts.

For a Plan G or Plan N enrollee, that reset is the one number that changes automatically in your out-of-pocket picture each January — even if your premium and your doctors stay exactly the same. High-deductible Plan G works differently: you pay costs up to the plan's separate high-deductible amount, which is also set federally and updated yearly.

Rate-adjustment season: how to check before you renew

Medigap premiums are not fixed forever. Insurers file proposed rate changes with the Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC), which reviews them. If you want to know whether your plan's premium is scheduled to change, you have two straightforward options:

• Look up the filing on the Washington OIC website (insurance.wa.gov) under health rate filings.
• Call your insurer and ask for the renewal rate for your specific plan, ZIP code, age, and tobacco status.

Rates can differ by age, by whether the policy is "issue-age" or "attained-age" rated, and by insurer, so a rate change at one company does not tell you what will happen at another.

Insurers selling Medigap in Washington

The insurer list for Washington is stable heading into 2026. The companies currently selling standardized Medigap policies in the state — and the plan letters each offers — are shown in the table below. In alphabetical order, they are: AARP - UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company; Bankers Life (Underwritten by Washington National Insurance Company); GPM Health and Life Insurance Company; Humana (HumanaDental Insurance Company); Insurance Company of North America; Medco Containment Life Insurance Company; Medico Insurance Company; Mutual of Omaha (United World Life Insurance Company); Premera Blue Cross; Premera Blue Cross (WA State Health Care Authority); Regence BlueShield; State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company; United American Insurance Company; and USAA Life Insurance Company.

Not every company sells every letter. A shopper who wants Plan G-HD, for example, has fewer choices than a shopper looking at Plan G or Plan N. The table shows exactly which letters each insurer offers.

What to do this fall in Vancouver

If you already have a Medigap plan, you do not have to do anything during the October 15 – December 7 Annual Enrollment Period — that window is for Part D and Medicare Advantage. But it is a sensible time to:

• Confirm your Part D plan for 2026 (the $2,100 out-of-pocket cap and $615 maximum deductible apply next year, and the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan is available if you want to spread drug costs monthly).
• Check your renewal premium letter from your Medigap insurer.
• Note the 2026 Part B deductible when Medicare publishes it, if you have Plan G or N.
• If your income is above $109,000 (single filer, 2026), review whether IRMAA surcharges apply.