Jesse Smedley is a Principal of Oakbridge Insurance and the founder of iHealthBrokers. He founded iHealthBrokers in 2007, and Oakbridge acquired iHealthBrokers in 2025. He has spent nearly two decades teaching people how to save money on their health insurance and navigate Medicare, and he is the author of Medicare A to Z: Your Roadmap to Medicare.
Life is often unpredictable and a sad but sometimes unavoidable truth is that our finances cannot always be predicted. Without employment income, many find themselves squeezed financially during retirement. So what if, you are one such person, and you discover you can no longer afford your Medicare Supplement Plan.
What is Medigap?
First let’s talk briefly about what exactly medicare supplements are. Medicare supplement plans supplement the financial gaps of Original Medicare. Original Medicare will cover most of your medical needs for hospital stays, inpatient and outpatient procedures, doctors and specialist visits and vaccinations. However, there are copays or coinsurance as well as deductibles.
Because there are no out of pocket maximums with Original Medicare, these copays or coinsurances can be rather significant if you have major medical needs. Medicare supplement plans cover these out of pocket costs and may even help with an out of pocket maximum if necessary.
But remember, Medigap plans do not offer additional benefits not already offered by Original Medicare such as dental, vision, hearing, and prescription drugs. They are simply a financial solution to unknown and potentially large costs.
Because they provide such comprehensive health coverage, they are an extremely popular option amongst many Medicare beneficiaries. So why wouldn’t you want one?
For many people it breaks down to the ability to afford one.
Use a Broker
You can find yourself unable to afford your Medigap plan should your financial situation change. They may also become too expensive if you don’t plan for yearly rate increases. All plans will increase on a yearly basis to accommodate inflation and rising healthcare costs.
This is one of the many reasons we recommend working with a broker. Yes, all plans increase, but your broker will be able to discuss with you which carriers have a history of low stable rate increases as opposed to erratic or dramatic rate increases.
They can also discuss with you the issue of age vs attained age. Basically, issue age policies will be priced based on your age when enrolling. Attained age will vary as you get older. Community-rated plans may also be an option and relate to general community demographics.
With careful research, you may be able to find all of this information yourself, but you will save yourself time, energy, and likely money by working with a broker.
Switch to a Different Plan
A broker can also help you switch to a different plan if you are unable to afford your current plan. There are 10 different plans with varying levels of coverage and expense.
Medicare Advantage
If despite best efforts, your supplement plan is still too expensive, consider Original Medicare alone or switch to Medicare Advantage. For many, this is a difficult choice to make.
Original Medicare will give you much more flexibility. Medicare Advantage offers out of pocket maximums and additional cost savings benefits. However, they often have restrictive networks and require preauthorization.
Medicare Savings Programs
If you are still finding yourself squeezed, look into a Medicare Savings Progam. There are four different programs with different asset and income criteria.
These programs can help you to pay for Part A and Part B. They can also enroll you in the Extra Help program to assist with Part D costs.
