Why Your Medicare Supplement Premium Keeps Going Up (And What You Can Actually Do About It)

If your Medicare Supplement (Medigap) premium seems to climb every year no matter how healthy you stay, you’re not imagining it, and you’re not alone. Rate increases are normal and expected. What most people don’t realize is that they aren’t stuck with them, and shopping around doesn’t put their current coverage at any risk.

Why Medigap Premiums Rise Every Year

A few things drive the increases, and they have nothing to do with your personal claims history:

• Rising healthcare costs across the board, which every carrier eventually passes on to policyholders
• Aging risk pools, especially for older plan letters like Plan F, which closed to new enrollees in 2020. As that group ages together with no new, younger policyholders joining, premiums climb faster
• Attained-age pricing, the most common pricing method, which increases your rate simply because you get older each year, regardless of your health

Pro Tip: Ask any carrier whether your policy uses attained-age, issue-age, or community-rated pricing. It changes how predictable your future premiums will be.

The Part Most People Don’t Know: You Can Shop Around, Risk-Free

Outside your initial enrollment window, moving to a new Medigap policy usually requires answering health questions. That sounds risky, but it isn’t, if you do it in the right order:

1. Get quotes first. Compare your current premium against other carriers offering the same plan letter (or a comparable one, like moving from Plan F to Plan G).
2. Apply without canceling anything. Your current policy stays fully active while a new carrier reviews your application.
3. Only switch once you’re approved. If a new carrier declines you, nothing about your current coverage ever changed. If they approve you, you cancel your old policy only after the new one has a confirmed start date.

Plan F, G, or N: Does the Letter Itself Matter?

If you’re on Plan F and open to comparing, it’s worth knowing what the alternatives actually look like:

• Plan G covers everything Plan F does except the annual Part B deductible, and because it’s still open to new enrollees, its risk pool tends to be younger, which often means slower premium growth over time
• Plan N costs less than both, in exchange for small copays on office visits and ER trips

There’s no universally “right” answer here. It depends on how often you see doctors and how much predictability you want in your monthly bill.

Don’t Forget Part D

Unlike Medigap, your Part D prescription drug plan can be reviewed and changed every single year during the Annual Enrollment Period (October 15 to December 7), with no health questions at all. It’s worth a fresh look annually, since the best-priced plan for your specific medications can change year to year.

Bottom line: A rising premium isn’t something you have to accept quietly. Comparing your options costs you nothing and puts your current coverage at zero risk.

See What You Could Be Saving

Curious what your Medigap plan would cost with a different carrier, or whether Plan G or N makes more sense for you? Contact our team for a no-obligation comparison. We’ll walk through your current coverage and your real options together, in plain language, so you can decide with confidence.