What is Medigap, when can I buy it, and what does it cost?

Medigap is extra insurance you buy from a private company. It helps pay your share of costs under Original Medicare. That means copayments, coinsurance and deductibles. You generally need both Part A and Part B to buy it [1]. When you buy matters more than anything else here. Federal law gives you a 6 month Medigap Open Enrollment Period. It starts the first month you have Part B and are 65 or older [2].

In that window a company must sell you any medical policy it offers. It cannot use your health history to turn you down. It cannot charge you more for a health problem you already have. It cannot make you wait for cover to start, except for cover tied to that problem [2]. The window comes once. Medicare.gov says it does not repeat each year [2]. After it closes you may pay more. Fewer policies may be open to you. A company may turn you down if you do not pass its health questions [2].

Some cases are protected anyway. They are called guaranteed issue rights, or Medigap protections. Your state may give you more rights. Medicare.gov says to check with your State Insurance Department [2]. Under 65. You may not be able to buy Medigap until you turn 65. That is the case when you have Medicare through a disability or End-Stage Renal Disease. Federal law does not make companies sell to people under 65. Some states do [2].

What it costs. The Medicare.gov pages quoted here do not give prices. We have no official price chart we can show for your state yet.

Read the «What's Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap)?» and «Get ready to buy» pages at medicare.gov, then compare the same lettered plan across companies using medicare.gov's Medigap tool and your state insurance department's rate guide.