Plan G vs Plan N in Texas: $33.83 a Month Apart at the Floor, and What That Buys

By Anthony Orner, Independent Licensed Medicare Insurance Broker · Texas filed rates pulled September 10, 2026, CSG Actuarial · Harris County (ZIP 77532)

A 65-year-old in Harris County pays $142.78 for the cheapest filed Plan G and $108.95 for the cheapest Plan N, both from Bankers Fidelity (Atlantic Capital Life), from CSG Actuarial filings pulled September 10, 2026. The gap is $33.83 a month, $406 a year.24 Texas carriers file both letters here; their gaps run $-25.00 to $112.15, median $56.07.

What the $33.83 buys back is copays: up to $20 at some office visits, up to $50 at an ER that sends you home, and any Part B excess charge, which Texas law does not forbid. $406 a year is about 20 office copays. Fewer visits than that and Plan N wins; more, and the saving is gone before the excess-charge risk is counted.

The carrier pays the broker. The filed premium is the same with or without us.

What Each Letter Pays

Every Texas Carrier Filing Both Letters in Harris County

Sorted by the gap between the same company's two filings, narrowest first. 7 carriers price the letters within $40 of each other; 11 charge $60 or more for the difference. The three widest gaps all belong to carriers in the dear half of the Plan G board, so the biggest "saving" from Plan N is offered by the companies whose Plan G was overpriced to begin with.

CSG Actuarial filings pulled September 10, 2026, ZIP 77532, woman aged 65, non-tobacco, individual, no household discount; each carrier's lowest filed rate class. #n is that carrier's rank on the Texas board for that letter. Physicians Mutual and Old Surety Life file Plan G only and are left out.

The floor carrier is the one to read first. Bankers Fidelity (Atlantic Capital Life) holds rank 1 on both letters, so the $33.83 question can be answered inside one application without switching companies. AARP / UnitedHealthcare is the one community-rated line, $176.73 for G and $138.60 for N at every age.

The Gap Grows With Age: 65 to 80 in Harris County

At 65 the cheapest lines sit $33.83 apart. At 80 they sit $50.07 apart, because 24 of the 26 Texas carriers price on attained age and the dearer letter climbs faster in dollars. A Plan N bought for the saving at 65 is worth more, in dollars, at 80, which is also when the copays tend to add up.

Medians are statewide filed medians for the letter and age; floors are the cheapest line in Harris County.

Where in Texas You Live Moves Both Numbers

Texas files 116 rating areas. The cheapest Plan N in the state is $86.47 in Anderson County, $22.48 under the Harris County floor, and that ranks 6 of 28 among the state files we hold. The gap between the letters is $26.85 in Bexar County and $33.83 in Galveston County, so the Plan N case is slightly weaker where both letters are already cheap.

Each county quoted at the ZIP covering the most of its land area, same profile as above.

Excess Charges: Texas Allows Them

A doctor who does not accept Medicare assignment may bill up to 15% above the approved amount. Plan G pays that; Plan N does not. Texas has no state law barring the practice, unlike a handful of northeastern and midwestern states, so a Texan on Plan N carries the exposure whenever a provider is non-participating. Most Texas doctors take assignment, and the charge only applies to the Part B portion of a bill, so the dollars are usually small. They are not zero, and a Plan N holder should ask the office before a procedure.

Texans mostly vote with Plan G: 507,049 policies against 72,245 on Plan N at the December 2023 NAIC count, 14 N for every 100 G, and 326,288 still on the closed Plan F. Plan N's share here ranks 19 of 28 in our file, and the median carrier gap ranks 23 of 28, so Texas offers a relatively large discount for the letter that Texans rarely take.

2026 Filings on the Carriers Above

21 Texas carriers in the table carry a 2026 Plan G filing in CSG's records, 16 of them at 15% or more. The largest on record is New Era Life at +98.4% effective December 1, 2025. Filings land on both letters from the same company, so the gap in dollars grows with each one. The full list is on 2026 Medigap rate increases by state.

Methodology

• Every premium is a filed rate read at build time from the Texas file of our licensed CSG Actuarial pull dated September 10, 2026. No number is typed.
• Profile: woman, 65 unless stated, non-tobacco, individual, no household discount, ZIP 77532 in Harris County. Each carrier's lowest filed rate class.
• A carrier's gap pairs its own Plan G and Plan N by NAIC code. Carriers filing one letter only are excluded from the pair table.
• Break-even copays divide twelve months of the floor gap by the Plan N office copay cap of $20; the ER figure uses $50.
• Cross-state ranks compare Texas with every state file we hold that carries both letters at 65 (28 states).
• Enrollment is the NAIC statewide count by plan letter as of December 2023. Direct-to-consumer and guaranteed-issue rate classes and rows above four times the state median are excluded.
• Plan N copay caps and the Part B deductible are the 2026 federal figures from a single source file. Neither letter pays the Part B deductible.

Anthony Orner, NPN 20586791, 1309 Route 70 West, Cherry Hill, NJ 08002, 855-559-1700, licensed in Texas and 34 other states. MedicareYourself (EasyKind Medicare) is an independent brokerage with no affiliation to Medicare, CMS or any carrier. We do not offer every plan available in your area; contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE for all options.