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Medigap Plan G is the most popular supplement for people new to Medicare, and its price depends heavily on your age when you buy it and every year after. KFF found that beneficiaries paid an average monthly premium of $164 for Plan G in 2023. Prices have climbed since then. Sample quotes for a healthy 65-year-old in 2026 commonly run from about $131 to $220 a month, with the same standardized policy costing two or three times as much from one insurer as from another in the same ZIP code.
That spread exists because Plan G benefits are set by federal law. Every Plan G policy covers the same gaps in Original Medicare. When two companies sell the identical coverage at different prices, you are paying for the company’s pricing method, its rate history, and its service, and nothing else.
What Plan G premiums look like by age
Most insurers price Medigap one of three ways. Attained-age pricing starts low and rises as you get older. Issue-age pricing is based on your age when you buy and does not rise because of age alone, though it still rises with medical inflation. Community-rated pricing charges everyone the same regardless of age. Attained-age policies dominate the market, so for most buyers the premium climbs steadily.
Sample 2026 quotes collected by rate-comparison publishers give a rough shape of the climb for a standard Plan G:
- Age 65: roughly $131 to $220 a month, depending on state and insurer
- Age 75: roughly $205 a month at the middle of the market
- Age 85: roughly $267 a month at the middle of the market
Treat those as orientation, not quotes. Your state matters a lot. A handful of states, including New York and Connecticut, require community rating or guaranteed issue rules that push starting prices higher but limit later jumps. Tobacco use raises the price at many companies. Women usually pay less than men at the same age because their claims run lower.
The increase on top of the increase
Age is only one driver. Plan G premiums also rise with medical inflation across the whole pool of policyholders, and those increases have grown sharper lately. KFF Health News reported in 2025 that annual increases of 10% to 15% had become common in markets where 3% to 5% used to be normal, with some carriers filing increases above 20%. A policy bought at $160 a month can plausibly cost $230 a month within five years even in a state with gentle age pricing.
This is the part of Medigap shopping that gets skipped. The cheapest quote at 65 sometimes belongs to a carrier with a pattern of steep increases, and switching later may require medical underwriting. Our guide to switching Medigap plans after 65 explains when you can move without health questions and when you cannot.
Cheaper ways to own Plan G coverage
High-deductible Plan G keeps the same coverage after you meet a larger deductible. For 2026 that deductible is $2,950. Premiums for the high-deductible version start around $44 a month in sample quotes, which suits people who rarely use care and want protection against a catastrophic year rather than first-dollar coverage.
Household discounts are the other reliable saving. Many carriers knock a percentage off when both spouses hold policies with the company, or in some cases when you simply live with another adult. Discounts run up to 12% at some national carriers. On a $200 premium, 12% is $288 a year, every year, for asking one question at enrollment.
Plan N deserves a look before you commit. It leaves you with copays of up to $20 for office visits and $50 for emergency room visits that do not lead to admission, and it does not cover Part B excess charges. In exchange, premiums often start $30 to $60 a month below Plan G. Our head-to-head on Medigap Plan N vs Plan G costs works through which one costs less over a full year at different levels of doctor use.
What you get for the premium
Plan G covers your Part A deductible of $1,736 per benefit period in 2026, your Part A and Part B coinsurance, the first three pints of blood, hospice cost sharing, and skilled nursing coinsurance of $217 a day for days 21 to 100. It also covers 80% of emergency care during foreign travel, up to plan limits. The one routine cost it leaves with you is the Part B deductible, $283 in 2026. After that deductible, a Plan G holder can go a whole year of heavy medical use and owe almost nothing beyond premiums.
That predictability is what the premium buys, and it is why the honest comparison is total yearly cost, not the monthly quote alone. Add twelve months of premiums to the $283 deductible and compare the result with what you would pay in copays under the alternatives. Our overview of Medigap plans A through N shows where Plan G sits in the full lineup if you want to check the leaner letters before you buy.
