Key Takeaways
One out of three fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare beneficiaries in 2016 had a Medigap insurance (34 percent), with this share rising to 41 percent (2015 data) among beneficiaries without additional insurance coverage (such as Medicaid, employer-sponsored insurance, etc.).
Between December 2015 and December 2016, the national Medigap enrollment increased from 12.3 million to 13.1 million beneficiaries.
Medigap is an important source of health coverage for Medicare beneficiaries of all income ranges. Notably, in 2015, 36 percent of Medigap enrollees had annual combined beneficiary and spouse income below $30,000; that percentage jumped to 41 percent in rural areas.
Summary
For Medicare beneficiaries, purchasing Medicare supplemental (Medigap) coverage helps fill gaps in their Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) benefits. This report describes the Medigap coverage options, demographics, and the most recent enrollment trends by using the latest available data sources: the 2016 National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) data, the 2016 California’s Department of Managed Health Care data, and the 2015 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) results.