Medigap Plan G Premiums Rose 12% in 2026 Filings. One Chubb Block Got 45%. Certain Policyholders Got Their Birthday Increase on Top.
Some Medigap policyholders opened their 2026 renewal notices to find two separate increases stacked in the same envelope, and the one they expected was not the bigger problem. Whether you can do anything about it depends almost entirely on which…
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A 74-year-old on Medigap Plan G opens her January renewal letter. The carrier’s rate action alone runs into double digits. Then the notice adds her age step, because her policy is priced by attained age. Two adjustments, one envelope, and the premium she budgeted for last year is gone.
If you carry a Plan G policy, this is the year to read the renewal notice line by line. If you dropped Medigap for a $0-premium Advantage plan years ago, the rate action does not touch you, but the underwriting discussion at the end does.
What the 2026 Filings Show
Rate filings submitted to state insurance departments for 2026 Plan G coverage cluster in the 12% to 26% range among several large national carriers. Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealthcare each posted increases of roughly 7 to 10 points over their 2025 filings. State-level spreads run wider: Illinois filings came in above 15%, Ohio between 10% and 15%, Alaska between 12% and 13%. These are selected filings, not a national average.
Plan G pricing is set state by state and block by block, so your own renewal may look nothing like these. One Chubb block filed at 45%. Closed blocks with shrinking membership routinely draw the steepest actions, because fewer healthy lives remain to absorb claims. If your policy sits in a legacy block a carrier no longer actively markets, that’s worth knowing, though as the underwriting section explains, knowing it and escaping it are two different problems.
Why the Rate Actions Landed Where They Did
Plan G pays the 20% coinsurance Original Medicare leaves behind on Part B services. It does not pay your Part B premium, and it does not pay the Part B deductible. So the rising premium you see on your own statement is not what the carrier is paying.
It is, however, a read on the same pressure. CMS set the standard Part B premium at $202.90 for 2026, an increase of $17.90 from $185.00 in 2025, and attributed the change to “projected price changes and assumed utilization increases that are consistent with historical experience.” That is the engine: Medicare-approved charges rising, and beneficiaries using more care. Plan G carriers write the coinsurance check on those same charges, so the same forces that pushed your premium up push their claims costs up.
The Part A side moved too, and Plan G absorbs it directly. The inpatient hospital deductible rose to $1,736 in 2026 from $1,676, and daily coinsurance for hospital days 61 through 90 climbed to $434 from $419. Every dollar of that increase is a dollar the policy now covers.
For context, headline inflation is nowhere near these numbers. CPI ran at a 3.4% annual rate in July 2026, and the 2027 Social Security COLA is currently tracking at about 3.6%. A double-digit Medigap increase against a raise in that range is a real cut in disposable retirement income, and it sits alongside a stack of other Medicare costs (IRMAA surcharges, Part D quirks, coverage gaps) that we mapped out in a free guide to Medicare’s hidden bills.
Attained-Age Pricing Compounds the Pain
Medigap carriers price policies three ways. Community-rated policies do not use age at all, though premiums can still vary by insurer, location, tobacco use and available discounts. Issue-age policies lock the rate to the age at which you bought. Attained-age policies step up as you get older.
Attained-age policies look cheapest at 65 and tend to become the most expensive by 75. In a year like this one, the carrier’s rate action and the age step stack on top of each other, which is why the total on the letter can look far worse than the filed increase suggested.
Check the policy schedule page. If it shows a rate table by age, you hold an attained-age contract, and the age step will recur. Note when it lands: depending on the contract, it may hit on your birthday, on the policy anniversary, or when you cross into a new age band. The carrier’s separately approved rate action can take effect on a different date again, which is how some policyholders end up absorbing two increases in one year without ever being told to expect it.
The Underwriting Lockout Nobody Warns You About
The federal Medigap open enrollment window opens once. It runs six months from the first month you are both 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. After it closes, in most states carriers can medically underwrite and decline you.
This is the trap in a year of steep increases. A policyholder facing a 26% rate action cannot simply shop to the cheapest quote if a diabetes diagnosis or a recent stent puts them outside underwriting guidelines. The people hit hardest by rate actions are often the ones least able to leave.
State law is where the exceptions live, and it varies more than most people realize. Some states, including New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine, provide continuous or annual guaranteed issue. Several others run birthday rules or anniversary rules that open a limited window each year in which you can switch to a comparable or lesser plan without underwriting. If you are outside a guaranteed-issue state, do not assume you have no route out. Check your own state’s rules before you conclude the increase is fixed.
What to Do Before the Next Renewal
- Find the pricing method on your declaration page. If it is attained-age, request quotes from an issue-age or community-rated carrier before your next age step.
- Check your state’s switching protections. Guaranteed issue, birthday rules and anniversary rules are all state-level. This determines whether shopping is even available to you before you spend time on quotes.
- Get quotes from two or three competing carriers on the same Plan G benefit set. Benefits are standardized, so identical coverage at a different price is a genuine comparison. Expect medical questions unless a state protection applies.
- Ask about high-deductible Plan G.
The premium typically runs a fraction of standard Plan G in exchange for a deductible you pay before benefits begin. Be aware that this is a separate policy rather than a modification of your existing one. Federal law does not guarantee you can move into it without underwriting, and whether your carrier permits it depends on carrier and state rules. Ask directly, and get the answer in writing.
The rate letter is fixed. What you replace it with may still be a choice, and how much of a choice depends on which state you retired in.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Gerelyn Terzo is the author of dividend investing handbook "Dividend Investing Strategies: How to Have Your Cake & Eat It Too." A veteran financial journalist, she covers agri-finance for outlets like Global AgInvesting and the broader stock market and personal finance for 24/7 Wall Street. She began at CNBC and later helped launch Fox Business in New York. Gerelyn currently resides in Woodland Park, Colorado and dabbles in nature photography as a hobby.
