Read a Medigap chart like a professor.

Every Medigap brochure contains the same government-standardized chart: plans A through N across the top, benefits down the side, checkmarks in between. It looks like an eye exam. It is actually the most honest page in insurance, once you know which four rows matter.

Why the chart can be trusted

Medigap benefits are standardized by federal law. Every carrier's Plan G covers identical benefits; the chart is the law made visible. That means the chart tells you what you get, and the only things it cannot tell you are price and rate history, which is where carriers actually compete.

Row 1: Part A coinsurance and hospital costs

Every plan letter checks this box, covering hospital coinsurance and adding 365 lifetime hospital days beyond Medicare's. This row is why even the humblest Medigap plan has real spine.

Row 2: Part B coinsurance (the 20 percent)

The most important row on the page. Plans G and N cover it (N with small copays: up to $20 office, up to $50 ER). The budget letters K and L cover only half or three-quarters until a yearly limit. If protecting yourself from the uncapped 20 percent is your goal, and it should be, this row is your filter.

Row 3: Part A deductible ($1,736 in 2026)

Most letters cover it fully; K and M go partial. Given the per-benefit-period trap we covered in the costs lesson, full coverage here earns its keep.

Row 4: Part B excess charges

Only G (and legacy F) check this box, covering the up-to-15 percent above Medicare's approved amount that non-participating providers may charge. In practice most providers accept Medicare's amount, several states ban excess charges entirely, and Florida does not, which is worth knowing when weighing G against N.

The rows people overrate

The foreign travel emergency row matters if you cruise or travel abroad (80 percent to plan limits on G and N), and the Part B deductible row barely matters at all: no currently-sold plan covers the $283, so stop hunting for it. C and F remain visible on charts only for those eligible before 2020.

Reading it like a professional

1. Cross out every column except G, N and high-deductible G; for new enrollees the realistic decision lives there.
2. Compare those three on rows 2 and 4; that is the entire coverage difference.
3. Then leave the chart and interrogate price: same-letter quotes across carriers plus each carrier's rate-increase record, which is exactly what an independent broker exists to put in front of you.