Medigap Plan F, why it closed

Plan F was the most comprehensive standardized Medigap plan. It filled in every gap Original Medicare left, including the one thing Plan G does not cover: the annual Part B deductible. With Plan F, a person on Original Medicare could go through a year of care and pay almost nothing beyond their premiums, no deductible to track, no coinsurance, no excess charges. That zero-friction simplicity is why it became the default for a generation of enrollees.

There was also a High-Deductible Plan F, the same comprehensive coverage with a large yearly deductible and a much lower premium, which closed to new enrollees on the same date as standard Plan F.

A federal law passed in 2015, MACRA, ended the era of Medigap plans covering the Part B deductible for new enrollees. The reasoning, broadly, was that a plan covering every last dollar can make cost a non-factor at the point of care; the law moved newer enrollees toward plans where the deductible stays visible. Whether that reasoning is persuasive is a policy debate this page does not take sides on.

The mechanics are specific: Plan F is closed to anyone who became eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020. The date is about when you became Medicare-eligible, not when you want to buy, so someone who turned 65 in 2019 but is only now shopping can still buy Plan F, while someone who became eligible in 2021 cannot, no matter when they shop. This was not a plan discontinued for everyone; it was closed to new entry, and existing policies continue.

You can keep it. Nothing forces you off it, and your coverage continues as it always has. But there is one thing worth watching. Because the plan is closed, no new, younger people are entering the Plan F risk pool. Over time a closed pool tends to skew older and sicker, which can put upward pressure on premiums in a way open plans like G do not face to the same degree. This is a tendency, not a certainty, and it varies by carrier and state.

Here is the catch that makes "just switch to save money" harder than it sounds: leaving Plan F for a cheaper Plan G generally means going through medical underwriting, because you would be buying a new policy outside your original open-enrollment window. In most states a carrier can review your health and decline you or charge more, which means the people most motivated to switch can be the ones least able to. A few states have rules that make switching easier, such as annual or "birthday rule" windows. So the honest guidance for a current holder whose premium is climbing: have someone run the comparison against a Plan G while you are healthy enough to have the option.

You cannot buy Plan F, so the question becomes what comes closest, and the answer is Plan G. The two are nearly identical; the only difference is that Plan G leaves you to pay the Part B deductible yourself, which is $283 in 2026.

That works out to a small, fixed amount once a year, and after you have paid it, Plan G behaves just like Plan F did. Because Plan G no longer has to price in covering that deductible, its premium is typically lower than Plan F's was, and as the closed-pool dynamic plays out, Plan G may well age better on price too. Newly-eligible comprehensive shoppers should simply start with Plan G.