If You Move to Another State, You Have 63 Days to Buy Medigap With No Health Questions. Nobody at the New Advantage Plan Will Mention It

You sold the house, signed a lease two states away and packed the car. Then a letter from your plan says you it does not work where you are going, so your coverage ends. Most people in this spot call the number on the first mailing they see and sign up for a new Advantage plan with a low advertised premium.

That reflex costs them the most valuable option a mover on Medicare has. Moving out of your Advantage plan’s service area gives you a guaranteed issue right to buy supplemental coverage with no health questions. You have 63 days to use it. On Reddit’s r/medicare forum, one user asked how guaranteed issue actually works after a permanent move to a state where their Advantage plan is not sold. Thousands of retired people face the same question each year, and few of them get an answer in time.

The right only applies when your plan cannot follow you. A national PPO that still covers your new ZIP code triggers nothing. If you already have Original Medicare with supplemental coverage, that coverage stays with you anywhere in the country.

What a Guaranteed Issue Right Buys You

Once your one-time initial Medigap window closes, buying a policy works like applying for life insurance. In most states, insurers ask about heart disease, cancer, diabetes, recent hospital stays and your prescriptions. Your answers determine whether they sell you a policy and what they charge. A diagnosis can mean a denial or a higher rate.

A guaranteed issue right turns all of that off. During the window, any insurer selling Medigap in your new state must sell you a covered plan. It cannot charge you more because of your health or make you wait for coverage of a pre-existing condition. For anyone who has developed a chronic condition since turning 65, this may be the last time an insurer has to say yes.

A few states, including New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine, give broader year-round or annual protections. KFF compared state rules in an analysis published Oct 13, 2026. Most movers get only the federal minimum, so check your destination state’s insurance department before you assume anything more.

When the 63-Day Clock Starts and What Insurers Want

The clock starts on the date your Advantage coverage ends. You can apply before that date, and the Medigap policy will start once the Advantage coverage stops. Apply early so you have no gap in coverage. Applying late risks missing the 63-day deadline, and after that you are back to answering health questions.

Insurers will ask for proof that you lost coverage. Keep every letter, notice and email from your Advantage plan, especially the disenrollment notice that gives your coverage end date. Keep the envelope too, because the postmark shows when the plan notified you.

Medicare’s Choosing a Medigap Policy guide lists the plans you’re entitled to buy: Medigap Plans A, B, D, G, K and L, from any insurer that sells them in your new state. Plans C and F are only open to people who qualified for Medicare before those plans closed to new enrollees. For most movers, Plan G is the one to price first. It covers nearly all Part A and Part B cost sharing except the Part B deductible.

Medigap does not cover prescriptions. When you leave Advantage, you also lose the drug coverage that came with it. Your move opens up a Special Enrollment Period, and you should use it to join a standalone Part D plan. If you skip this step, you risk a permanent Part D late enrollment penalty, which is one of several Medicare surcharges we mapped out in a free guide to the program’s hidden bills.

Why Nobody at the New Plan Will Mention It

During a move, you talk to two kinds of people. Member services at your old plan processes your disenrollment. An agent or enrollment representative signs you up for whatever you call about next. A captive agent for an Advantage carrier sells that carrier’s Advantage plans, and a new plan’s enrollment line is there to enroll you in that plan. Neither job includes says you that federal rules let you buy a supplement with no health questions for a short time. The mailing and TV ads that show up after a change of address push the same products.

Once you sign up for a new Advantage plan, the door effectively closes. To leave that plan, you need another enrollment period, and by then your 63 days have likely run out.

For anyone with a chronic condition or who wants to see specialists without network limits or prior approval, use this window to get Medigap. If you are healthy and care most about keeping costs down, Advantage can work. Just know that getting back into Medigap later usually means medical underwriting.

Your Move-Week Sequence

1. Before you move, call your current plan, report your new address and move date, and ask for your coverage end date in writing. Keep every letter and envelope it sends.
2. Before that end date, get Plan G quotes from several insurers in the new state. In writing, says each one you are applying under a guaranteed issue right after moving out of your Advantage plan’s service area, and include the disenrollment notice.
3. In the same window, join a standalone Part D plan for your new ZIP code using your moving Special Enrollment Period. Set it to start the day your Advantage coverage ends, and update your address with Social Security so premiums and notices follow you.

This window opens up once per move and closes quietly. If you treat the move as a deadline for your health coverage as well as for your belongings, you keep the option most movers never hear about.

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