Filling the Original Medicare gap: What is Medicare Supplement Insurance?

If you’ve read even just a little about Medicare, you may have already come across the synonymous terms Medicare Supplement Insurance and Medigap. Supplement insurance is optional, and it’s relevant only for the roughly half of all Medicare recipients who enroll in Original Medicare, which is administered by the federal government.

Medicare Advantage plans are offered by insurance companies who build supplemental coverage into the all-in-one policies they market, so an additional policy isn’t needed. In fact, if you select Medicare Advantage, insurance companies aren’t allowed to sell you a Medigap policy.

But if Medigap insurance is optional, why would Original Medicare beneficiaries want an extra insurance policy with an additional premium to pay? The answer—at least in the eyes of most Original Medicare recipients—is that Original Medicare is not enough and some form of supplemental coverage is essential to cover the “gap.”

What gaps does Medigap fill in?

Original Medicare does pay for most of its beneficiaries’ health-related services and medical supplies. But there are some costs, such as copayments and deductibles, that can result in a lot of out-of-pocket expenses. Medigap can pick up all or most of the out-of-pocket costs that you’d have to pay if all you had was the hospital and medical insurance provided by Parts A and B of Original Medicare.

These Medigap plans are operated and marketed by insurance companies, not the federal Medicare program, although the federal government is responsible for establishing the guidelines that insurance companies must follow.

Some Medigap policies will pay for emergency health care received abroad, as Original Medicare doesn’t cover medical bills incurred outside the U.S. If foreign travel health coverage matters to you, make sure any Medigap policy you purchase includes it.

Four out of five Americans who are enrolled in Original Medicare are also enrolled in some type of supplemental policy, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which says that more than half of those receive Supplement coverage through employer-sponsored retiree health plans, union plans, or even Medicaid, the government program for low-income Americans.

Some employers and unions are willing to purchase Medigap policies for their employees and retirees. But even if you have to purchase a policy with your own funds, it’s worth considering.

Some additional things to know about Medigap

1. Buy for yourself and your spouse separately. Like Original Medicare, a Medigap policy only covers one person; there are no family plans. Each Medicare beneficiary in your household needs their own policy.
2. Shop around. See a plan you like? You might find a policy with the exact same coverage from another insurance company that costs hundreds of dollars less per year. Note that premiums can increase as you get older. Some states limit Medigap premium costs.
3. They won’t cancel you. Any standardized Medigap policy is required to offer you a renewal, even if you develop health problems while on the policy. So the company can’t cancel you as long as you keep up on the premium payments.
4. Drug coverage is separate. As of January 6, 2006, Medigap policies stopped offering drug coverage, but you can enroll in Medicare Part D (drug coverage).
5. Are there other gaps to fill? A Medigap plan won’t cover long-term, dental, or vision care.

The alphabet soup of Medigap plans

If you think understanding Parts A, B, C, and D—the basic building blocks of the Medicare program—is a bit of a challenge, you’ll just love the dizzying array of choices that Medigap provides. In all but three states (Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Minnesota), insurance companies can only sell you a standardized Medigap policy identified by letters A through N, except for plans E, H, I, and J, which were discontinued after June 2010.

There’s good news. Federal guidelines require that each Medigap plan run by an insurance company must offer the same basic benefits, no matter which insurance company sells it. So Medigap Plan G offered by one insurer will provide the same benefits as Medigap Plan G offered by another. The prices may differ, but the benefits won’t.

Each of the lettered plans offers a different set of benefits, and the costs vary with the amount of coverage. In general, Plan A provides the fewest benefits and has the lowest premiums. Medigap plans that more effectively fill in cost gaps, such as Plans F or G, usually have a higher premium.

According to the American Association for Medicare Supplement Insurance, among people who were newly eligible for Medicare in 2020 or later, the vast majority are purchasing Plan G. But make sure you can handle the premium before you opt for it.

The bottom line

Whether you get it for free or at a discount from an employer or a union—or you pay for it out of your own pocket—some form of supplemental insurance is recommended for enrollees of Original Medicare.

If you have no choice but to pay for your own Medigap policy, start by finding a list of Supplement plans offered in your area using this Medigap plan finder.