Key Takeaways
- A Reddit poster’s 73-year-old mother saw her Medigap Plan N premium rise from $85 a month in 2021 to $139.45 for December. That’s $653.40 more a year.
- Federal law guarantees a Medigap policy with no health questions only in the six months after Part B starts at 65 or older. So now that she’s had a fracture, surgery and a hospital stay in 2025, a new insurer can turn her down.
- If she drops Medigap, she’s left with Original Medicare’s 20% Part B coinsurance and no yearly limit. A Medicare Advantage plan has a yearly limit, but she’d have to give up her Medigap policy to join one.
- Her best move is to apply for a cheaper Plan N while keeping the one she has. Medicare’s open enrollment, which runs through Dec. 7, doesn’t bring back Medigap’s guarantee.
If your Medigap rate notice just showed up with another big increase, the obvious move is to shop around. But if your health has changed since you bought the policy, a new insurer may not take you at all.
That’s the bind one family laid out in a recent post in Reddit’s r/medicare forum, after the poster’s mother got her latest rate notice.
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A 21% jump in one notice
The poster’s parents are both in their early 70s. They bought Cigna Medicare Supplement Plan N in 2021 while living in Michigan, then moved to Texas in 2024. The mother’s insurer is now HealthSpring National, formerly Cigna. Her premium started at $85 a month in 2021, went to $95, then $115, and her rate for December is $139.45.
That’s a 64% increase in five years, and the latest step alone is over 21%. At $139.45 a month, she’ll pay $1,673.40 a year. That’s $653.40 more than she’d have paid over a year at 2021’s $85 rate.
Then there’s her health. In 2025 she fell, fractured her humerus and needed surgery and a hospital stay. The poster says she’s fully recovered, walks on her own and has normal use of her arm, but still asks: “Given my mom’s medical history, is it even worth exploring other insurers?”
Her no-questions window closed years ago
Federal law gives each retiree one six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period. It starts the first month they have Part B and are 65 or older. During those six months, an insurer can’t use medical underwriting to turn you down or deny you coverage for pre-existing health problems. After that, you may not be able to buy a Medigap policy at all, or it may cost more.
She already had Part B when she bought her Plan N in 2021, so her six months ran out years ago. Medicare’s yearly open enrollment runs through Dec. 7, but it’s a separate window and doesn’t bring Medigap’s guarantee back. So any insurer she applies to now can ask about last year’s fracture, surgery and hospital stay, and say no. Some states give more rights than federal law does, so it’s worth checking what Texas allows before assuming she’s stuck.
Every way out has a catch
She has three real choices: keep the Plan N and take the increases, apply for a cheaper Plan N, or leave Medigap altogether.
Part of that 64% may simply be her birthdays. Each Medigap policy is priced in one of three ways, and with attained-age pricing the premium goes up as the policyholder gets older. The poster thinks $139 a month isn’t particularly expensive for someone in their early 70s in Texas. And a cheaper quote from an insurer that prices by age could climb the same way.
Applying for another Plan N costs nothing, and the worst an insurer can do is say no or quote a higher price. She’d want to keep paying for the policy she has until a new one actually approves her, since there’s no guarantee one will.
Leaving Medigap is the risky choice. With Original Medicare alone, she’d usually pay 20% of the cost of each Medicare-covered service after the Part B deductible. And since Original Medicare has no yearly limit on out-of-pocket costs, nothing would cap that 20% in another year like 2025.
A Medicare Advantage plan does have a yearly out-of-pocket limit, which varies by plan. Once she’s paid it, the plan pays 100% of her covered health services for the rest of the calendar year. But Medigap only works with Original Medicare, so she’d give up her Plan N. If she ever wanted Medigap again, she might not be able to buy it, or it might cost more. To switch for 2027, the plan has to get her request by Dec. 7.
Hold on to the Plan N
Here’s where I land: I’d keep the Plan N and let other insurers try to beat it. A 21% jump in one notice stings, but after a fracture, surgery and a hospital stay, the policy that helps pay her 20% is the last thing I’d give up. The poster isn’t looking to switch carriers to save $10 to $15 a month, and I agree. If a cheaper Plan N approves her, great. If not, she’s locked into nothing worse than what she has today.
The next rate notice is the one to watch. If HealthSpring keeps raising her rate at this pace, a Medicare Advantage plan’s yearly limit will look more tempting each fall. But she can join one in any year’s open enrollment, while she might not be able to buy Medigap again once she leaves it.
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