Why Medigap Premiums Rise Every Year and When Switching Actually Makes Sense

Why Your Medigap Premium Went Up Again

Every January I get the letter. Mine arrived on a Tuesday, buried under a pharmacy receipt, telling me my Plan G premium was going up 7.4% the following month. Thirty-one dollars onto something I already pay twelve times a year.

Honestly, my first instinct was to start shopping. Then I actually read it. A Medigap rate increase isn’t the same animal as a cable bill creeping up, and whether “should I switch” has an answer depends on three things — the premium is only one.

Short version: most increases are normal. Most people who chase the cheapest plan either pay more later or get turned down outright. There are two situations where switching genuinely pays, and I’ll do the arithmetic on both.

For the wider picture of how a supplement fits with everything else you carry, my notes live on the insurance planning hub. If the plan letters still blur together, the Medigap guide walks through them one at a time.

The Three Engines Behind Every Medigap Rate Increase

Folks assume insurers raise prices because they can. Sometimes. But there are three specific drivers, and knowing which one landed on you tells you how to react — or whether reacting is the right move at all.

Driver one: how your policy was priced the day you bought it. Almost nobody reads this at purchase. Medigap uses one of three pricing methods, locked in the moment you signed. Bought attained-age rated and you’re 78 now instead of 68? Your premium climbs every year by design.

Driver two: medical inflation. Medicare pays its portion, your supplement pays its. When the share Medicare doesn’t cover gets pricier, so does yours. Every carrier faces it.

Driver three: the insurer’s own claims pool. Company-specific, and the only one that really justifies shopping. If a carrier wrote plenty of policies in your state and those members turned out sicker than the actuaries guessed, the whole pool gets repriced. Two neighbors with identical Plan G letters can see a 3% bump and an 11% bump in the same month.

Driver three is worth acting on. Drivers one and two are the cost of holding the coverage at all. Your renewal letter usually names the method in small print — if not, call the number on the back.

Pricing method	How the premium is set	What it looks like at 80
Attained-age rated	Based on your age right now	Cheapest at 65, often dearest later
Issue-age rated	Based on your age the day you bought it	Dearer at first, then very predictable
Community rated	Same for everyone in your area, any age	No age-driven jump, though it rises with costs

Notice what that means. Bought attained-age at 65 because it was $40 cheaper? You didn’t save $40. You rented a low price for the years you were least likely to file a big claim, and now you’re paying the balance.

I bought attained-age myself and would do it again — it was the responsible call on a fixed income. But my 7.4% letter wasn’t news.

The Real Gate: Can You Even Switch?

Here’s the thing nobody puts in those comparison charts. Price shopping quietly assumes somebody will sell to you. Once your Medigap Open Enrollment Period closes, quite often they won’t.

That window runs six months, opening the first month you’re 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. During it, a carrier must sell you any Medigap plan it offers, at the same rate as anybody else, no health questions asked.

After it shuts, most states let insurers medically underwrite you: a higher rate, a waiting period for pre-existing conditions, or a flat decline. — and yes, I watched a friend learn that by cancelling first and applying second.

Exceptions exist and matter. A handful of states require insurers to offer coverage outside the federal window, and certain events trigger a guaranteed-issue right — joining Medicare Advantage when you first got Part B and wanting out within twelve months is one. Rules vary enormously by state, so don’t trust any national article, this one included. Call your State Health Insurance Assistance Program instead: free, unbiased, the most useful call in this process.

The Break-Even Math I Actually Run

My real numbers, because abstract warnings are useless:

Plan G costs me $248 a month after the increase. The cheapest comparable Plan G quoted this year: $215. That’s $33 saved a month, $396 a year, roughly $1,980 over five years if the gap holds.

$1,980 is real money on Social Security plus a small pension. I won’t pretend otherwise — but two things have to be true for it to actually show up.

First, the new carrier’s increases stay under mine for all five years. New entrants often price aggressively for two or three years, then reprice hard once they have a book of business. Older policies tend to run steadier — a tendency, not a promise, but you can look the history up.

Second, I clear underwriting at standard rate. Come back rated, say 20% above standard, and $215 becomes roughly $258. Backward, for the privilege of paperwork.

So my rule: I don’t move for under about $30 a month in savings I believe will hold, and only when my last two years of medical history is boring. Those two conditions have kept me put every January except one.

If you do go ahead, never cancel the old policy until the new one is in force in writing — don’t spend one month holding neither.

Staying organized helps. Every renewal letter and Explanation of Benefits goes into a cheap accordion file organizer, one pocket per year, and each new premium into a large-print planner, so the trend line is visible at a glance. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Trap That Costs People the Most

The mistake you usually can’t undo.

When a zero-premium Advantage plan lands in the mailbox, dropping a $248 Medigap looks like found money. Advantage plans do carry real advantages: bundled drug coverage, an out-of-pocket ceiling, often dental and vision.

But understand the door closing behind you. Leave Medigap for Advantage and want back in later, and you generally face underwriting all over again. “I’ll just switch back if I get sick” doesn’t exist for most people in most states. By then you may be the person the underwriters decline.

I’ll be blunt. If there’s any realistic chance you’ll want Medigap again in five years, treat the switch as permanent. Run the numbers for the long haul, not for two cheap years and a gamble.

Five Questions Before You Touch Anything

1. When did my open enrollment window close? Still open? Compare freely, skip the rest.

2. Do I have a guaranteed-issue right right now? Losing employer coverage, moving outside a plan’s service area, or leaving Advantage in year one can each trigger one. Always ask.

3. Anything new in my health these last two years? A hospitalization, a new diagnosis, even a screening needing follow-up — it shows up. If yes, stay put.

4. What has each carrier done over five years, not just this January? One year’s letter tells you almost nothing.

5. Am I switching for price, or for a different plan letter? Separate decisions. Plan N to Plan G because specialist visits climbed is a different calculation from chasing $33.

Where I checked this — the dollar figures are mine, one person in one ZIP code, and yours will differ:

• Medicare.gov: Medigap plans
• Medicare.gov: when you can buy Medigap
• Medicare.gov: switching Medigap policies
• Medicare.gov: what Medicare costs
• CMS: Medigap program information

Last updated October 2026. Availability, state guaranteed-issue rights and pricing rules all shift, and several depend on where you live.

Some of the links on this page are partner links, and I may earn a commission if you purchase through them — at no extra cost to you. To compare what’s actually offered where you live, including whether you can get through underwriting at all, start here: compare Medigap options.