Medicare Supplement

How Medigap's Standardized Plan Letters Actually Work

COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. — If you've spent any time comparing Medicare Supplement Insurance, you've seen the alphabet: Plan A, Plan B, Plan G, Plan N, and a few more. Those letters aren't marketing labels. They're a federal shorthand that makes it easier to compare one insurer's Medigap policy to another's — once you know how to read them.

A clearer way to read the Medigap menu

Here's what Medigap does, what the letters mean, and how Colonial Heights residents can use that knowledge to shop with more confidence.

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 — things like coinsurance, copayments, and the Part A hospital deductible.

A few important ground rules from Medicare.gov:

• Medigap only works alongside Original Medicare. It does not work with Medicare Advantage.
• Medigap does not include prescription drug coverage. For drugs, you'd add a separate Part D plan.
• You pay a monthly premium to the private insurer, on top of your Part B premium.
• Policies are generally guaranteed renewable, as long as you pay the premium.

Think of Medigap as a companion policy for Original Medicare — it fills in gaps, nothing more.

Why the letters exist

In most states, Medigap plans are standardized by the federal government. That means Plan G sold by one company must cover the same core benefits as Plan G sold by another. The price and customer service may differ, but the benefits inside each lettered plan are set.

That's the whole point of the letter system: it lets you compare apples to apples. Once you decide which letter fits your needs, the shopping question becomes simpler — who offers that plan in your area, and at what price?

Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin standardize their Medigap plans a little differently, but Virginia follows the standard federal lettering.

What the letters generally cover

The lettered plans (A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N) each combine a different mix of benefits. Common items they may help with include:

• Part A hospital coinsurance and an extra 365 days of hospital coverage after Medicare benefits are used up
• Part B coinsurance or copayments
• The first three pints of blood
• Part A hospice care coinsurance
• Skilled nursing facility coinsurance
• The Part A deductible
• Foreign travel emergency care (up to plan limits)

Two notes worth knowing:

• Plans C and F — which pay the Part B deductible — are only available to people who were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020. If you became eligible on or after that date, those two letters are off the table for you.
• Plans K and L are cost-sharing versions with lower premiums but an annual out-of-pocket limit before they pay 100%.

For the current side-by-side benefit chart, the official source is Medicare.gov's Medigap section.

When you can buy — and why timing matters

The best window to buy a Medigap policy is your Medigap Open Enrollment Period: the six months that begin the month you're 65 and enrolled in Part B. During that window, insurers cannot deny you coverage or charge you more based on your health.

Outside that window, in most states insurers can use medical underwriting — meaning your health history can affect whether you're approved and what you pay. Virginia has some limited guaranteed-issue rights in specific situations, but they don't replace that initial six-month window.

If you're weighing Medigap versus Medicare Advantage, remember: those are two different roads. Medicare Advantage bundles your coverage through a private plan; Medigap sits on top of Original Medicare. You generally cannot have both at the same time.

How this fits with the rest of Medicare in 2026

Medigap doesn't cover prescriptions, so many people pair it with a stand-alone Part D drug plan. A few 2026 figures from Medicare worth keeping in mind as you plan:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 for 2026.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615.
• The old coverage gap (the "donut hole") has been eliminated as of 2025; Part D now has three phases.
• The optional Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the year in monthly installments.
• IRMAA income-based surcharges for Part B and Part D start above $109,000 for a single filer in 2026.
• Annual Enrollment Period: Oct. 15 – Dec. 7. Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: Jan. 1 – March 31. (Medigap has its own separate rules and isn't tied to these dates.)

Colonial Heights is in Colonial Heights City, where the number of Medicare Advantage and Part D plans offered each year is set at the county level. Medigap availability, on the other hand, depends on which insurers are licensed to sell each lettered plan in Virginia.