In light of proposed policy changes to Medigap insurance, a widely-used form of supplemental coverage to Medicare, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released, “Medigap: Spotlight on Enrollment, Premiums and Trends.” The report provides a detailed look at national and state trends in enrollment into Medigap plans and their various premiums. Medigap insurance plays an important role for Medicare beneficiaries who do not have retiree coverage or Medicaid. According to the KFF report, nearly one in four Medicare beneficiaries had a Medigap policy in 2010. The average Medigap monthly premium was $178 in 2010, but average premiums vary widely depending on the plan type. Plan F premiums, for instance, ranged from an average of $72 to an average of $366 in 2010. Even with the wide variation in price, Medigap premiums increased more slowly between 2006 and 2010 than Medicare Part B and Part D premiums.
The most popular Medigap plans are Plan C and Plan F, which account for more than half of all Medigap policies purchased. These plans provide what’s known as first-dollar coverage and cover both the Medicare Part A and Part B deductibles entirely. To find savings in Medicare, some policymakers propose eliminating first-dollar coverage. Eliminating first-dollar Medigap coverage shifts costs to Medicare beneficiaries who purchase Medigap insurance as a means of protecting themselves against high out-of-pocket expenses, and it fails to solve the real problem of rising costs in the health care system overall.
Read the full KFF report.
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