Plan G is the plan most people end up with, and not by accident. Since January 1, 2020, anyone newly eligible for Medicare has been barred from buying Plans C and F, which leaves Plan G as the most complete Medigap policy still on the shelf. KFF’s analysis of National Association of Insurance Commissioners data found Plan G was already the single largest plan in the market, with 39% of all Medigap policyholders, or nearly 5.3 million people.
Every dollar figure below was pulled on September 6, 2026 from CMS, Medicare.gov, and two state insurance department rate filings. Medigap premiums are filed with and published by state regulators, so the numbers here are real approved rates, not quotes.
What Plan G Actually Covers
Medigap plans are standardized by federal law. A Plan G sold by one insurer covers exactly what a Plan G sold by any other insurer covers, which means the only real difference between two Plan G policies is the price and the company behind it.
Per the Medicare.gov benefit chart, Plan G pays 100% of:
- The Part A hospital deductible, which is $1,736 per benefit period in 2026
- Part A hospital coinsurance, plus 365 additional hospital days after Medicare’s benefits run out
- Part B coinsurance and copayments, normally 20% of the Medicare-approved amount
- Skilled nursing facility coinsurance, $217 a day for days 21 through 100 in 2026
- Part A hospice coinsurance and copayments
- The first three pints of blood
- Part B excess charges, the up-to-15% surcharge a non-participating doctor can add on top of the Medicare-approved amount
It also pays 80% of foreign travel emergency care up to the policy’s limits, after a $250 yearly deductible.
There is exactly one standard Medigap benefit Plan G does not cover, and it is the whole reason Plan G exists as a separate letter.
The One Bill You Still Pay: The $283 Part B Deductible
CMS set the 2026 annual Part B deductible at $283, up from $257 in 2025. Plan G does not touch it. You pay that $283 yourself, once per calendar year, and then Plan G picks up your Part B coinsurance for everything after it.
That is the entire difference between Plan G and Plan F. Plan F covers the Part B deductible; Plan G does not. Congress closed Plans C and F to newly eligible beneficiaries precisely because they eliminated all cost sharing, and lawmakers wanted new enrollees to feel at least one bill.
The practical math is simple. Splitting $283 over 12 months is $23.58. So Plan G beats Plan F on total cost for anyone whose Plan F premium is more than about $24 a month higher, even assuming you blow through the full deductible every single year. In practice the gap is wider than that, which is why Plan F is usually the worse buy even for the shrinking group still allowed to purchase it.
One more thing Plan G does not do: it does not cover prescription drugs. You need a separate Part D plan, and if your drug costs are heavy, look at the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan or Extra Help.
What Plan G Costs in 2026
Medigap premiums vary by state, carrier, age, sex, tobacco use, and ZIP code. The table below uses filed rates published by the Maryland Insurance Administration as of July 1, 2026, for two carriers at the same ages, so you can see both the age curve and the spread between companies for identical coverage.
| Age | Plan G, CareFirst MedPlus | Plan G, Aetna | High-Deductible G, CareFirst MedPlus | High-Deductible G, Aetna |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65 | $249 | $300 | $72 | $54 |
| 70 | $315 | $319 | $91 | $57 |
| 75 | $382 | $375 | $111 | $67 |
| 80 | $453 | $441 | $131 | $79 |
| 85 | $512 | $515 | $149 | $93 |
Maryland Insurance Administration filed monthly premiums as of July 1, 2026. CareFirst MedPlus figures are Level 1 male rates for the Baltimore Metro, D.C. Metro and Western Maryland region. Aetna figures are male preferred rates. Female rates run lower at both carriers, for example $234 at CareFirst and $261 at Aetna for Plan G at age 65.
New Jersey’s Division of Aging Services publishes a comparable chart, revised January 13, 2026, showing what a 65-year-old woman pays there. Plan G ran from $140.81 a month at Bankers Fidelity to $260.98 at Aetna, with the widely sold AARP policy from UnitedHealthcare at $167.13. High-Deductible Plan G ran from $47.06 to $67.00.
Put those two states together and $140 to $330 a month is a fair national band for Plan G at 65 as of September 2026, with the low end concentrated among smaller carriers and the high end among the biggest brand names. KFF, using 2023 NAIC data, put the average Plan G premium across all current policyholders at $164 a month, ranging from about $140 in D.C. to $236 in New York.
Two rating rules drive most of the variation. Under attained-age rating, which most states allow, your premium climbs every year with your age, which is why the CareFirst policy doubles between 65 and 85. Nine states (Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington) require community rating for people 65 and older, so age does not move the price there. More on how these interact in the Medigap cost guide.
High-Deductible Plan G: The Cheap-Premium Version
High-Deductible Plan G covers the same benefits as standard Plan G, but you pay the first $2,950 of Medicare-covered deductibles, copayments and coinsurance yourself in 2026 before the policy pays anything. CMS sets that figure each year by indexing a 1998 base amount to the CPI, and announced the 2026 number in October 2025.
The $2,950 includes the $283 Part B deductible, so it is not stacked on top. There is a separate $250 annual deductible for foreign travel emergency care.
Whether it is worth it comes down to one calculation: multiply the monthly premium gap by 12 and compare it to $2,950.
- CareFirst MedPlus at 65: $249 minus $72 is $177 a month, or $2,124 a year. In a maximum-claims year you end up about $826 worse off. In a year with no claims you are $2,124 ahead.
- Aetna at 65: $300 minus $54 is $246 a month, or $2,952 a year. That fully offsets the $2,950 deductible. Under this specific filing there is no bad year, only years where you break even and years where you save a lot.
- CareFirst MedPlus at 75: $382 minus $111 is $271 a month, or $3,252 a year, which exceeds the deductible outright.
The catch is cash flow, not arithmetic. A high-deductible policy can hand you a $2,950 bill in January, and that is a hard month for anyone living on a fixed income. If a surprise four-figure bill would go on a credit card, the standard version is the safer buy even when the spreadsheet says otherwise. If a bill does land and you cannot cover it, our guide to negotiating medical bills covers what to ask for.
Who Plan G Fits, and Who Should Look Elsewhere
Plan G makes sense if you want to keep Original Medicare, see any doctor who takes Medicare without a network or a referral, and cap your exposure at $283 a year plus your premiums. That predictability is the product.
It is a poor fit if the premium itself is the problem. Plan G costs the same whether you see a doctor twice a year or thirty times, and there is no premium subsidy for Medigap the way there is for marketplace coverage. If money is tight, check Medicare Savings Programs first, since qualifying for QMB covers your Medicare deductibles and coinsurance outright and makes Medigap unnecessary.
If you want a lower premium and can absorb small copays at the point of service, Plan N trades a $20 office-visit copay and a $50 emergency room copay for a materially cheaper monthly bill. The head-to-head is in Plan G vs Plan N. And if you would rather have one plan with an out-of-pocket maximum and extra benefits instead of a premium, compare Medicare Advantage against Medigap.
Timing Matters More Than Price
The single biggest determinant of what you pay for Plan G is not which carrier you pick. It is when you apply. During your six-month Medigap open enrollment period, which starts the month you are 65 and enrolled in Part B, insurers must sell you any plan they offer at their best rate regardless of your health. Outside that window and outside a guaranteed issue right, most states let carriers medically underwrite you, charge more, or decline you entirely.
That is why the cheapest Plan G in your state today may be unavailable to you in three years. Shop the letter, compare every carrier selling it, and apply inside the window.