Medicare Supplemental Health Insurance
Medicare Supplemental Quotes
Choose your state to begin 
Understanding Medicare Supplemental Insurance Policy Ratings
The way heath insurance companies determine premiums are based on "ratings". Although Medicare supplemental insurance is standardized in terms of what gaps any given Lettered Plan must cover, different insurance companies use different "rating" systems - and therefore premium "rates" can vary - even for the same lettered supplemental plan.
Basically the private insurance companies that sell Medicare Supplemental Insurance use one of two types of ratings: Age Related Rating or Community Rating.
As the name implies age rating is based upon your age at the time you purchase your supplemental Medicare plan. Age rating further breaks down into Attained Age Rating, and Issue Rating.
The premiums you pay for an attained age rated supplemental Medicare insurance policy is less expensive when you first enroll at age 65, but the monthly premiums will increase each subsequent year thereafter. Take note that while this type of Medicare supplement may seem very attractive with its initial low premium rates, in the long run it may not actually be the most affordable Medigap plan, because a decade or so after you purchase it - you may be paying a higher premium than you would for a policy that is rated any other way.
An issue rated supplemental Medicare insurance policy also takes your age at time of purchase into account to set your premium, however your premiums will not increase every year as you place a new candle on your birthday cake. Understand that your premiums may increase over time, as they would with any health insurance policy, but with an issue-rated policy, it is not a guarantee that they will go up EVERY year, as they would with an attained age rated policy.
Community rated supplemental Medicare insurance policies on the other hand, do not take your age into account when establishing your premium rate at all. Rather Community rating means that anyone purchasing that plan in the same area pays the same monthly premium, no mater their age at the time of enrollment in the plan.
The cost of community rated supplemental Medicare may increase over time, but the policyholder will never be billed more specifically because of his or her age, no matter how long the supplemental insurance policy remains in effect.
Community rated Medigap insurance plans are sometimes also referred to as "no-age rating" policies - recognizing the different names is just part of knowing your options when you are shopping around for a supplemental Medicare policy.
