The Best Medicare Supplement (Medigap) Plans in New Mexico
- New Mexico Medigap, also known as New Mexico Medicare Supplement Insurance, helps Medicare enrollees save money. Read our New Mexico Medigap review to find a plan that meets your needs.
Original Medicare provides basic coverage for a variety of medical services, but many of those services require you to pay a copay, a deductible or coinsurance. For example, most Part B services require 20% coinsurance for every covered service, meaning you may owe hundreds of dollars after Medicare pays its portion of your bill.
If you're concerned about these out-of-pocket costs, consider buying a New Mexico Medigap plan. Medigap pays for many of the out-of-pocket costs associated with Medicare coverage, leaving you with more money in your pocket.
Despite the advantages of signing up for Medicare Supplement Insurance, many New Mexicans have yet to enroll in this supplemental coverage. Just 67,447 of New Mexico's Original Medicare enrollees — 23.1% — are also enrolled in a Medigap plan. If you have Original Medicare and don't have the extra protection of Medigap in place, keep reading to learn more about your Medicare Supplement Insurance options.
You can find Medicare Supplement plans where you live by comparing plans from several different insurance companies online.
What Are the Best New Mexico Medicare Supplement Plans?
In New Mexico, there are 10 Medigap options for adults enrolled in Original Medicare. Each plan is designated by a capital letter. The chart below lists the plans available and explains what each one covers.
| Medicare Supplement Benefits | A | B | C1 | D | F1 | G | K | L | M | N |
| Part A coinsurance and hospital costs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Part B coinsurance or copayment | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 50% | 75% | ✓ | ✓ |
| First 3 pints of blood | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 50% | 75% | ✓ | ✓ |
| Part A hospice care co-insurance or co-payment | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 50% | 75% | ✓ | ✓ |
| Co-insurance for skilled nursing facility | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 50% | 75% | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Medicare Part A deductible | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 50% | 75% | 50% | ✓ | |
| Medicare Part B deductible | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||
| Medicare Part B excess charges | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||
| Foreign travel emergency | 80% | 80% | 80% | 80% | 80% | 80% | ||||
| 1. Plans C and F are not available to new beneficiaries who became eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020. 2. Plans F and G also offer a high deductible plan which has an annual deductible of $2,700 in 2023. Once the annual deductible is met, the plan pays 100% of covered services for the rest of the year. The high deductible Plan F is not available to new beneficiaries who became eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020. 3. Plan K has an out-of-pocket yearly limit of $6,940 in 2023. Plan L has an out-of-pocket yearly limit of $3,470 in 2023. 4. Plan N pays 100% of the Part B coinsurance, except for a copayment of up to $20 for some office visits and up to $50 for emergency room visits that don’t result in an inpatient admission. View an image version of this table. |
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Because Medigap plans are standardized, all 10 cover your coinsurance requirement if you're hospitalized and need to use your Medicare Part A benefits. If you develop a serious illness, every one of these plans covers 365 days' worth of additional hospital costs once you've exhausted your Original Medicare coverage. Each plan also includes some level of coverage, ranging from 50% to 100%, for your Medicare Part B coinsurance and copays.
Plan F is one of the most popular plans because of its low premiums, but this plan isn't available to anyone who became eligible for Medicare after January 1, 2020. Plan G also has low premiums, making it one of the most popular choices. It also has a high deductible, so it's not the right choice for every Medicare enrollee. Plan N is more expensive than the other two plans, but it also offers better coverage for some services. For example, plan N typically covers 100% of your Part B copays and coinsurance. You may be asked to pay a copay of $20 for a doctor visit and up to $50 for an emergency room visit, however.
How Do I Enroll in a New Mexico Medigap Plan?
You'll be eligible to enroll in a New Mexico Medigap plan once you reach your 65th birthday and sign up for Medicare Part B coverage. This starts the clock on your Medigap open enrollment period, which lasts for six months. If you sign up during this period, you'll have guaranteed issue rights. When you have these protections, you can't be turned down for Medigap insurance, and insurance companies can't refuse to cover your pre-existing conditions or charge you a higher premium because you have a chronic illness.
If you don't enroll in New Mexico Medicare Supplement Insurance during your Medigap open enrollment period, you may lose these guaranteed issue rights. When that happens, insurance companies are allowed to reject your application or charge higher prices for coverage based on your medical history.
In some cases, you maintain your guaranteed issue rights even if you didn't sign up for supplementary coverage during your Medigap open enrollment period. Your guaranteed issue protections remain intact in the following circumstances:
- You lose secondary insurance coverage that has been helping to reduce your out-of-pocket costs after Medicare pays.
- You lose your Medicare Advantage coverage because you move out of the plan's service area, the insurance company stops participating in the Medicare Advantage program or the insurance company stops offering the plan in your area.
- You drop your existing Medigap coverage or Medicare Advantage Plan because the insurance company wasn't following the Medicare rules.
- You want to switch from Medicare Advantage to Original Medicare within your first year of coverage.
- Your Medigap coverage ends through no fault of your own.
AHIP. (Feb. 2023). The Sate of Medicare Supplement Coverage Trends in Enrollment and Demographics. https://www.ahip.org/documents/202301-AHIP_MedicareSuppCvg-v03.pdf.
