The Plan That Covered Everything
For decades, Medigap Plan F was the gold standard: it covered every gap in Original Medicare, including the Part B deductible, leaving you with essentially no out-of-pocket costs for Medicare-covered care. Predictable to the point of boring — you paid your premium and never saw another medical bill. That's exactly why it was the best-selling supplement in the country.
Then federal law changed. A rule barred any Medigap plan from covering the Part B deductible for people who became eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020. Since Plan F's defining feature was covering that deductible, it closed to newcomers on that date. If you were already eligible before 2020, you can keep Plan F or even still buy it — but if your 65th birthday landed in 2020 or later, it was never an option for you.
Enter Plan G, the New Standard
Plan G is nearly identical to Plan F with exactly one difference: you pay the annual Part B deductible yourself ($283 in 2026). After that single deductible, Plan G covers the same comprehensive set of gaps Plan F did. In practice, that means one modest bill a year and then the same worry-free coverage.
Here's the quietly interesting part: because Plan F was closed to new enrollees, its remaining pool of members is aging and its premiums have tended to rise faster. Plan G, with its steady stream of new members, often ends up costing less in monthly premium than Plan F — and the premium savings frequently exceed the Part B deductible you now pay. Many people are financially better off on Plan G even setting aside that Plan F isn't available to them. We compared Plan G against its leaner sibling in Plan G vs. Plan N.
There's Also a High-Deductible Version
If you like the idea of Medigap but want a lower premium, High-Deductible Plan G is worth knowing about. You pay a much lower monthly premium in exchange for a higher annual deductible (in the several-thousand-dollar range) before coverage kicks in. It's essentially catastrophic Medigap coverage: cheap most years, fully protective in a bad one.
It suits people who are generally healthy, want to cap their worst-case exposure, and are comfortable self-funding routine costs. It's not for everyone, but it's an underused middle ground between a full Plan G and going without a supplement entirely.
What This Means for You Today
If you're new to Medicare, don't spend energy mourning Plan F — Plan G is very likely the better financial choice anyway, and it's what most well-informed buyers pick now. The real decision isn't F versus G; it's Medigap versus Medicare Advantage, and then which Medigap letter and which carrier.
Medigap pricing for the identical coverage varies significantly between insurers — same Plan G, different premium — so the comparison that saves money is across carriers, not just across plan letters. That cross-carrier shopping is exactly what an independent agent does for you at no cost. Bring your ZIP code and your birthday, and we'll show you what's actually available and what it costs.
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