Medigap group finds price stability

Prices in the Medicare supplement insurance market continue to look stable.

The American Association for Medicare Supplement Insurance has reported that finding in a summary of its latest Medicare supplement price index survey.

Analysts at the Westlake Village, California-based group obtained 2017 Medigap quotes for a hypothetical 65-year-old man and a hypothetical 65-year-old woman in 10 major metropolitan areas. The quotes were comparable to what they were in 2016, the group says.

The 2017 quotes for men ranged from $126 per month, in San Antonio, to $464, in New York.

The 2017 quotes for women ranged from $118 to $464.

For 2016, the quotes for men ranged from $126 to $444. The 2016 quotes for women ranged from $118 to $444.

Jesse Slome, AAMSI's director, says the number of people with Medicare supplement insurance coverage, which is also known as Medigap coverage, has increased 7.5 percent in the past year, to 13.1 million.

Medigap policies pay most or all of the out-of-pocket costs left by the traditional Medicare Part A hospitalization and Medicare Part B physician services programs.

Policymakers designed the Medigap program in 1990. Issuers must offer products with benefits that that fit within one of the program's standardized "letter plan" templates, and they must offer coverage to eligible people on a guaranteed-issue basis during a six-month open enrollment period that starts on the first day of the month on which individual is both 65 or older and is enrolled in Medicare Part B.

Related:

New short-term care group meets

What 5 companies said about their Medicare plans

Are you following us on Facebook?