If all medigap policies with the same designation offer the same benefits, how do I pick the best policy?
After you’ve chosen the plan you want (designated by letters A through J), all you need to do is look at price. Because medigap plans are standardized, every plan with the same letter designation offers the same coverage. Service rarely varies from company to company, so paying higher premiums won’t get you any extras (shop for policies through your state insurance department). But don’t just buy the policy with the cheapest premium. Look first at how companies set prices for different types of policies. With attained-age policies, premiums start out low but increase as you get older — typically jumping every one, three or five years, in addition to price hikes resulting from health-care inflation, which are common to all policies. Issue-age policies base your premium on your age at the time of purchase. Rates will rise with health-care inflation, but they won’t increase just because you get older. Community-rated policies are similar to issue-age policies, except that everyone in the
