Do You Need an Agent to Buy a Medicare Supplement?

How to Buy a Medicare Supplement Without an Agent

It takes five steps. Step three is the slow one.

1. Pick the plan letter. Benefits are standardized by federal law. A Plan G from one company pays the same claims as a Plan G from any other. Only the price and the rate history differ.
2. Find every company that sells it in your ZIP. Medicare.gov's Medigap finder lists them, with phone numbers. It has no application. Medigap is bought from the insurer.
3. Get each company's price. That's one call or website per company, and the states below have 8 to 34 of them in a single county. Some take applications online. Others take them only through agents.
4. Answer the health questions, if they apply. During your six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period, which starts the month you're 65 or older and enrolled in Part B, no company can turn you down for your health. Outside it, Medicare's guidance is that an insurer “is allowed to deny you a policy if you don't meet their medical underwriting requirements.” Each company writes its own questions. Some states add their own enrollment windows, so check yours.
5. Pick a start date and read the policy. Turning 65? You can apply up to six months before Part B starts and lock the current rate. After the policy is issued, a 30-day free look lets you cancel for a full refund.

Where the table below links a state, that page shows its filed Plan G prices at 65 with nothing to fill in first.

What Buying Direct Won't Get You

• More than one price. That average is about $2,109 a year for identical coverage. The gap runs from $92.97 in Florida to $310.52 in Arizona, where GPM Health and Life files the top price.
• Some of the lowest prices. Atlantic Capital Life Assurance, part of the Bankers Fidelity family, files the cheapest broker-sold Plan G at 65 in the county shown for 10 of the 11 states on this page where it issues. The family's website takes no applications. Its Medicare Supplement page has a quote form that says “an independent agent may call you.” Its sister companies issue in other states and price very differently. In the county shown: Michigan (Bankers Fidelity Assurance, 20th of 27), Montana (Bankers Fidelity Life Insurance, 22nd of 22), New Jersey (Bankers Fidelity Assurance, 2nd of 19), South Carolina (Bankers Fidelity Assurance, 1st of 25), Tennessee (Bankers Fidelity Assurance, 27th of 28), Virginia (Bankers Fidelity Assurance, 1st of 21), West Virginia (Bankers Fidelity Assurance, 21st of 25) and Wyoming (Bankers Fidelity Life Insurance, 15th of 18). (Here's how that application works.)
• A read on the health questions. Outside open enrollment, one company may decline you and another may accept you. A broker knows each company's questions before you apply.
• Someone watching your rate. Increases arrive by letter. No company calls to say a competitor is now cheaper. A broker rechecks the market when the letter comes. Here are the 2026 rate increases we've tracked.
• Someone else on hold. When a client's bill or claim goes wrong, they call us, and we call the carrier.

Plan G at 65: Cheapest vs. Priciest Carrier in One County

Same plan, same age, same county. Only the company changes.

Source: CSG Actuarial filed rates, pulled September 9, 2026 to September 14, 2026. Female, non-tobacco, age 65, individual rates, one sample ZIP in each state's flagship county. “Priciest” is the most expensive carrier's lowest rate class. Direct-to-consumer, guaranteed-issue and bundled Plan G variants are left out. States where we don't write Medigap are not shown. Your quote will differ by age, sex, tobacco use and ZIP.

When Buying Direct Is the Right Call

• If a direct-only price is the lowest one. Some companies file rate classes sold only to people applying without an agent, and a broker can't place them. In CSG's data for the states on this page, that's Universal Fidelity Life Insurance Company in Arizona and Mississippi; SilverScript (part of Aetna) in Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, Tennessee and West Virginia. Our tables leave them out because we can't sell them, so ask the company for its direct price and compare.
• If you want advice from someone who sells nothing. Your state's SHIP (State Health Insurance Assistance Program) gives free one-on-one counseling. Find yours at shiphelp.org.
• If you already know the company and the price. When it takes applications directly, applying yourself is quick, and the premium is the same.

Three Ways to Buy Through Us

• Talk it through. Call 855-559-1700. I'll show you every filed carrier at your age and ZIP.
• See prices first, nothing asked. The state pages linked in the table show filed Plan G prices at 65 with no form to fill in.
• Apply online. The full application runs at healthplans.now: plan, health questions if they apply, and payment setup. It asks for a phone number and email, like any application.

Related

• Is it a good idea to use a Medicare broker?
• How much does a Medicare broker charge?
• Switching Medigap carriers