Medicare Supplement

How Medigap Plan Letters Work: A Green Bay Guide

GREEN BAY, Wis. — If you have Original Medicare and you've started shopping for extra coverage, you've probably run into a wall of letters: Plan A, Plan G, Plan N, and more. These are Medicare Supplement plans, often called Medigap. The letters aren't grades or rankings. They're a shorthand for standardized benefit packages set by federal rules.

Making sense of Medigap in Green Bay

Here's a plain-language look at what Medigap does, how the letters work, and what Green Bay residents should keep in mind before choosing.

What Medigap actually does

Medigap is private insurance that works alongside Original Medicare (Part A and Part B). After Medicare pays its share of a covered service, a Medigap policy can help pick up some of what's left — things like coinsurance, copayments, and deductibles.

A few things to know up front:

• Medigap only works with Original Medicare. It does not pair with Medicare Advantage.
• You pay a monthly premium for Medigap on top of your Part B premium.
• Medigap generally does not include prescription drug coverage. For that, most people add a stand-alone Part D plan.
• Medigap policies are guaranteed renewable as long as you pay your premium.

Why the letters exist

Back in the early 1990s, Congress required Medigap plans to be standardized so shoppers could compare apples to apples. Today, in most states, Medigap plans come in 10 lettered versions: A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N.

Here's the key idea: a Plan G from one insurer covers the same set of benefits as a Plan G from another insurer. The letter tells you what's covered. The premium, customer service, and extras (like discount programs) are what vary from company to company.

Two more wrinkles worth knowing:

• Plans C and F are only available to people who became eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020.
• A high-deductible version of Plan G exists for people who want a lower premium in exchange for paying more up front.

A quick tour of what the letters cover

Every lettered plan covers a core set of benefits, including Part A hospital coinsurance and an extra 365 hospital days after Medicare runs out. From there, coverage expands:

• Plan A covers the basics.
• Plan G is one of the most comprehensive options for people newly eligible today. It covers nearly everything except the Part B deductible.
• Plan N has slightly lower premiums than Plan G but asks you to pay small copays for some office and ER visits.
• Plans K and L have lower premiums and use cost-sharing until you hit an annual out-of-pocket limit.

For a full side-by-side chart, Medicare.gov has an official Medigap comparison tool.

Wisconsin is different — and Green Bay shoppers should know why

Here's a twist: Wisconsin is one of three states (along with Massachusetts and Minnesota) that doesn't use the standard letter system. Instead, Wisconsin uses its own standardized Medigap plan with optional "riders" you can add for extra coverage.

So if you're shopping in Green Bay — which sits in Brown County — you'll likely see a base Wisconsin Medigap plan plus choices like a Part A deductible rider, a Part B copayment/coinsurance rider, or additional home health care coverage. It's a different structure, but the same idea: standardized so you can compare.

The Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance publishes a free consumer guide that explains the state's Medigap system in detail.

When you can buy — and why timing matters

The best time to buy a Medigap policy is during your Medigap Open Enrollment Period: the six months that start when you're 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. During this window, insurers can't turn you down or charge you more because of health conditions.

Miss that window, and in many cases insurers can use medical underwriting to decide whether to sell you a policy and at what price. There are some exceptions ("guaranteed issue rights"), but they're limited. That's why Medigap timing is worth thinking about early.

Medigap vs. Medicare Advantage — a quick reality check

Medigap and Medicare Advantage are two different paths, and you can only be on one at a time.

• Original Medicare + Medigap + Part D typically means broader provider choice nationwide and more predictable out-of-pocket costs, in exchange for monthly premiums.
• Medicare Advantage bundles hospital, medical, and often drug coverage into one plan, usually with a network.

Green Bay is in Brown County, where a number of Medicare Advantage plans are offered each year. Neither path is universally "better" — the right fit depends on your doctors, your medications, your budget, and how much predictability you want.