Medicare Supplement Plan F vs Plan G: Who Can Still Get Plan F and How the Costs Differ

Plan F and Plan G are Medigap plans. People also call them Medicare Supplement plans. Put the two plans side by side. They pay the same list of benefits. One gap sits between them. Plan F pays the Part B deductible. Plan G does not. That one line is the whole benefit gap.

The bigger split is who can buy each plan. Plan F is closed to one group. That group became eligible for Medicare in 2020 or later. Plan G is open to them. This guide sorts out who can still get Plan F. It sorts out who cannot. It shows how to weigh the costs too. That helps if both plans are open to you. Our guide on Plan K and Plan L in 2027 covers the two low-premium plans. Our Medicare Supplement section holds the rest of our Medigap guides.

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Who can still get Plan F

The rule turns on one date. That date is when you first became eligible for Medicare. Were you eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020, or after that date? If before, Plan F is still open to you. You can buy it now. You can buy it even if you did not buy it back then. Do you already hold Plan F? No rule forces you to give it up. You can keep it as long as you pay the premium.

Say you first became eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020, no company may sell you Plan F. The same bar covers Plan C. Plan C also pays the Part B deductible. For people in this group, Plan G is the closest match. Plan G pays each benefit Plan F pays. It skips just the Part B deductible.

Age alone does not settle the question. A person who turns 65 in 2027 is new to Medicare in 2027 and cannot buy Plan F. A person was eligible in 2019 but waited to enroll in Part B. That person can still buy Plan F. Why? The date that counts is the first eligibility date. It is not the enrollment date.

The one benefit that differs

Each year, you pay a first chunk of Part B care yourself. That chunk is the first $283 of your Part B care in 2026 (Ledger A2). That chunk is the Part B deductible. Plan F pays it for you. Plan G does not. A Plan G holder pays it out of pocket once a year.

After that deductible, the two plans pay the same way. Each plan pays your Part B coinsurance in full. Each plan pays Part B excess charges in full. Each plan pays the Part A deductible too. It pays Part A coinsurance too. It pays hospice and skilled nursing coinsurance. It pays the first three pints of blood. It pays 80% of foreign travel emergency care, up to plan limits.

So the gap in benefits is worth $283 in 2026: that sum is the deductible. Plan F covers that deductible. Plan G does not.

How to compare the true cost

Both plans charge a monthly premium. Each company sets its own price. Get quotes for both plans from the same company. Then do this sum. Take the Plan F premium for a full year. Take the Plan G premium for a full year. Add $283, the 2026 Part B deductible (Ledger A2) that Plan G leaves with you.

Plan F often has the higher premium of the two. One cause is its pool of members. That pool can only shrink over time. No new members have joined it since the 2020 cutoff. Say the Plan F premium beats the Plan G premium by more than $283, Plan G costs less that year. Say the gap is less than $283, Plan F costs less. Premiums change each year. Run the sum again at each renewal.

The high-deductible forms

Plan F and Plan G each come in a high-deductible form. Some states sell these forms. On those forms, you pay your Medicare cost sharing first. You pay up to a set deductible. The policy starts to pay after that point. That deductible is $2,950 in 2026 and $3,050 in 2027 (Ledger L1; the 2027 amount starts on January 1, 2027).

The same bar applies to high-deductible Plan F. Only people eligible for Medicare before 2020 can buy that form. High-deductible Plan G is open to all buyers. Our guide on high-deductible Plan G shows how that form pays. It goes month by month.

Who pays for what

• Medicare (Original Medicare) pays its share first. It pays its share of covered care. For most Part B care, that share is 80% of the approved amount. The share comes after the deductible.
• Medigap (Plan F or Plan G) pays toward the Original Medicare benefit. Plan F pays the Part B deductible too. Plan G pays the same list of benefits. It skips that one deductible. Neither plan covers a service on its own.
• Medicaid: you may have both Medicare and Medicaid. Then your state may help with premiums and cost sharing. A Medigap policy is a private policy. It is not a Medicaid benefit.
• Private pay: you pay the Medigap premium. You pay your Part B premium. On Plan G, you pay the Part B deductible of $283 in 2026 (Ledger A2).

Sample situation

Tom and Ellie are married. Ellie was first eligible for Medicare in 2019, so Plan F is open to her. Tom turns 65 in 2027, so Plan F is closed to him. He can buy Plan G, but no company may sell him Plan F.

Their agent quotes both plans from one company. For Ellie, the Plan F premium for a year comes to $300 more than the Plan G premium. Plan G would leave her the $283 Part B deductible (Ledger A2, 2026 amount). So Plan F costs her $300 minus $283, which is $17 more for the year than Plan G, and buys her the same cover. Tom has no such choice to weigh: Plan G is his closest match, and he plans to pay the deductible himself each year.

Questions to ask before you choose

• What date were you first eligible for Medicare? That date decides if Plan F is open to you at all.
• What is the premium for each plan for a full year? Get both quotes from the same company.
• Add the Part B deductible to the Plan G side. Then ask which plan costs less this year.
• How have this company's premiums risen in past years? Ask for each plan on its own.

Sources

• https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-plans/medigap/basics/compare-plan-benefits