Medigap Plan N
Medigap Plan N – It’s on our shortlist
Medigap Plan N is a good fit for people that:
*are interested in comprehensive health care coverage but don’t mind paying for a few copays when they use health care services;
*want a health plan with lower monthly premiums than Medigap Plan F and Medigap Plan G;
*want the flexibility of using any doctor/hospital/ other providers in the United States that ‘accepts assignment‘.
A refresher on Medigap plans is available below
If you would like a refresher on the difference between all 12 Medigap plans, refer to page 11 of the document found here. Please read pages 7 – 24 of this same document for a more comprehensive review of Medigap plans. This includes enrollment periods you need to be aware of and what ‘guaranteed issues’ are. You will need this information at hand to arm yourself with the knowledge needed to effectively understand Medigap (Medicare Supplement) plans. This material may be a bit overwhelming to the person new to Medicare. Call us if you want help tying all of this together.
Current monthly premiums for the companies that offer this plan to Idaho residents is available here. Important! Be aware that there are different rate charts on that page, be sure and access the one that best describes you.
Which company should I choose?
Idaho sees changes to our marketplace annually
Be aware that companies offering Medigap plans enter and leave the Idaho marketplace. At the end of 2017, 10 companies left. This was a bit unusual and may have been attributed to the 2 State of Idaho laws that were effective on January 1, 2018 (both are good for people on Medicare in Idaho…in my opinion). The point here is our marketplace is active. Idaho isn’t necessarily a top market for insurance companies offering this product. Why? Because Idaho has a lower population of people with Medicare Part A and B when compared to other states.
The Idaho Legislature changed the laws regulating insurance companies offering Medigap plans in Idaho again during the 2021 session. On 3/1/2022, Idaho moved to ‘community rating’ and implemented the ‘birthday rule. Both important changes Idaho residents should be aware of.
Who should I do business with?
When you looked at the rate charts mentioned above, you probably noticed the monthly premiums offered by the different insurance companies varied by over 200%. This product is the same so why the wide variation in rates?
There are three key points you should be aware of. These are:
1. When a company enters a new State offering their Medigap plans, the monthly premium is typically the lowest they will ever be. New companies may keep these rates low for more than one year, however, when claims start to come in, they may need to raise their monthly premiums to keep up with rising claims.
2. Insurance companies can apply for annual increases in their monthly premiums. The Idaho Department of Insurance reviews these requests and will either approve or deny the request.
3. The longer an insurance company has been in Idaho, the higher their monthly premiums may be when compared to companies that have been in Idaho for 1 – 3 years. This is simply the effect of accumulated annual rate increases.
Does this mean you should only be considering companies new to Idaho?
We favor this thinking but with a few caveats. Companies offering these products are like companies in any other industry. We feel some are simply better at what they do and how they do it than others. We feel these companies have measurable characteristics that are available in the public domain.
Below are some of the criteria we use to separate ‘wheat from the chaff’. We use this information when we build our short list of companies we recommend. They include:
the companies that have been in the Medigap business at least 3-years (this doesn’t mean in Idaho, but in this business in the United States). They may have recently entered the Idaho market after being in the business in other States for several years.
Companies that have demonstrated, on a national level, they run their business effectively. We look at 8 different measurements on each company when we build our recommend list. These include: must have an AM Best rating of at least A-; have more than 10,000 policies in place and the slope of this line (when plotted on a graph) continues to go up year over year; has a medical loss ratio at/below the national average for all companies in this business, have competitive rates in our state, etc.
Should I only consider companies whose name I recognize?
Note there are several well established nationally known companies offering Medigap Plan N in our state. You may have seen their materials in your mailbox, received phone calls from them, or their ad’s on TV. Review their monthly premiums on the rate chart mentioned above, then remember these products are the same. We like these companies but are aware many people that have retired have a lower income than when they were employed. Many want good value for their money. To us, this is like doing business with Costco. Why pay more?
If you want help selecting the right company call us. We review the companies doing business in Idaho up to 4 times a year. This helps us keep our company recommend list fresh.
At this time (July 23, 2023) we are recommending 3 of the 24 insurance companies whose premiums are between $128 and $143/month for Medigap Plan N. These figures came from the current age non-tobacco rate chart.
What else do I need to be aware of?
1. You must be enrolled in Medicare Part A and B before a company will consider your application.
2. Medigap Plan N (as well as Medigap Plan G) has been rapidly growing in the number of policies issued year over year for the past 3-years. These figures are reported by AHIP. Click here to read the latest AHIP report.
3. Make sure you understand the enrollment periods that are described in the document we suggested above (pages 7 – 24 of the document found here). Remember if you are in your Medigap ‘open enrollment’ period, insurance companies are required to accept your application.
Guaranteed issues – what you need to be aware of
4. If you are moving to Idaho and had a Medicare Advantage plan in your current state of residence, you are entitled to a ‘guaranteed issue’. This means you can apply for a Medigap Plan N and any of 5 other Medigap plans available in Idaho offered by any company and they are required to accept your application. What happened to the underwriting requirement? When you have a ‘guaranteed issue’, you do not have to answer the ‘health history’ questions on the application.
5. If you do not have a ‘guaranteed issue’ and are outside of your one-time ‘open enrollment’ period or your 63-day birthday window, you will have to answer the health history questions. Providing a list of your prescription medications and why they were prescribed is also included in health history information. These companies include a phone interview with the applicant to review the answers to these questions. Based on responses, the applicant can be accepted or denied.
Underwriting – items to be aware of
6. Health history questions on applications can vary based on the company. If a person’s application is denied by one company, it could be accepted by another company.
7. Know your state laws regarding Medigap plans. CMS sets the rules for insurance companies offering these insurance products and can be modified by individual states. We suggest you contact the SHIBA group within the Idaho Department of Insurance to learn how Idaho has modified the rules on Medigap.
8. You should budget for annual premium increases. You might see a 6 – 9% annual increase; some companies will be lower and some higher. What drives the percentage increase in monthly premiums? The annual changes to the company’s medical loss ratio and how this compares to the company’s original projection.
Do not get ‘married’ to the insurance company that offered your Medigap Plan N
9. Once you are enrolled in a Medigap plan, you can change your Medigap plan and company when ever you want. If you want to change plans within the same company, they may have rules in place you need to be aware of. For example, if your application was accepted by a company under a ‘guaranteed issue’ right, you may have to submit a new application and answer the health history questions on the application. If your original application was submitted during the open enrollment period, you may be free to move to a less comprehensive plan without going through underwriting. However, if you want to change insurance companies AND you are not in your 63-day birthday window, you will have to submit a new application to that company. This means you will have to answer the health history questions. You should find ‘Should I Change Medigap Policies’ good reading.
10. This list is not complete but covers the main issues we feel you should be aware of.
After I have a Medigap Plan N, what else should I be thinking about?
1. Be sure you have a solid understanding of how Medicare works. We suggest you do this by reviewing the different courses created and updated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). These are available in the national training library which is available here. CMS updates these courses as Medicare changes; check back annually. Also review the current issue of ‘Medicare and You’.
2. Understand the out of pocket costs that Medicare Part A and B do not completely cover (and how much your monthly Part B premium is). These figures can change annually. Bookmark and check this website in November of each year.
3. Stay healthy. Get your annual preventative services appointment scheduled and stay on track.
Your monthly premium can go up annually
Remember the earlier discussion about how rates change annually and new companies come into the Idaho marketplace? After a few years of annual increases in your monthly premium, your current plan could be $40+ higher than other companies new to Idaho and are on our ‘recommend’ list. If the saving difference between insurance companies is meaningful to you, we will help you switch companies/plans.
Should you get your prescription drug plan from the same company you as your Medigap Plan N?
It is easy to say yes to this question. However, before anyone enrolls in a prescription drug plan, they should find out:
if the plan covers all of the medications they take;
determine their out of pocket cost on an annual basis (plan’s premium plus the refill cost) for the specific prescription medication(s) they take;
compare the annual out of pocket cost between all plans available to Idaho residents (and have a star rating of at least 3.5), then make a decision on which plan best suits your needs;
do this annually between October 1 and December 7th. Why? Because insurance companies can and often do change may their plan details each year. If you do not change plans, you are automatically re-enrolled in the same plan for next year.
Key differences between plans available to you
We have noticed the annual cost for the same set of medications can vary by as much as 300% between prescription drug plans (PDP). If you do not compare your annual cost for a PDP before enrolling in a plan, you open up yourself to paying more for your medications.
Read this material to learn more about Idaho Medicare Prescription Drug plans.
If you need help with this, call us.
Idaho residents interested in Medigap Plan N
Learn about Idaho Medigap Plans and Carrier Differences before taking the next step.
We do not advise people to simply select the Medigap Plan N with the lowest monthly premium. You should find this material good reading.
Call us at (208)-867-0296 if you would like help thinking this through. We will answer your questions, help you select the right insurance company and complete enrollment.
Learn more about us before you call; then learn why you should you use an independent agent when working with Medigap plans.
We are here to help.
Call us if you want to work with a broker that specializes in both Medicare and Medigap Plans. We live in Idaho and have been helping Idaho residents since 2012.
This page was last modified on