Medigap: Spotlight on Enrollment, Premiums and Recent Trends

Medicare supplemental insurance, also known as “Medigap,” is an important source of supplemental coverage for nearly one in four people on Medicare. Traditional Medicare has cost-sharing requirements and significant gaps in coverage; Medigap helps make health care costs more predictable and stable for beneficiaries by covering some or all Medicare costs, including deductibles and cost-sharing.

This policy brief provides an overview of the Medigap market, national trends in enrollment and premiums, variations across plan types and states and by different beneficiary characteristics. Lastly, the brief examines whether Medigap policyholders are enrolled in the lowest-cost plans available in their states.

This brief, issued in April 2013, is a revision to an earlier brief from February 2013. The revisions reflect updated methods for estimating Medigap premiums and for comparing plans within states. It is authored by researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of California at Los Angeles.

icon_fact_sheet Report (.pdf)

KFF Headquarters: 185 Berry St., Suite 2000, San Francisco, CA 94107 | Phone 650-854-9400
Washington Offices and Barbara Jordan Conference Center: 1330 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005 | Phone 202-347-5270

www.kff.org | Email Alerts: kff.org/email | facebook.com/KFF | twitter.com/kff

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news, KFF is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.