It takes an Act of Congress to make changes to Medicare and in April of 2015 Congress made a major change to what benefits insurance companies are allowed to offer. Under the Medicare Access & Chip Re-authorization Act (MACRA) Insurance companies will no longer be able to offer Medicare supplement plans that have as a benefit payment of the annual Part B deductible starting in January 2020. This law affects the most popular Medicare supplement plan F.
Current Plan F owners can keep their insurance plan and those that become eligible before January 2020 are grandfathered and can purchase Plan F as it is today. We do not yet know how this new rule will be handled by insurance companies but, if the plan is shut to new enrollees, the current members may see their costs increasing over time as there will be no younger and healthier enrollees who would offset the costs of the aging and less healthy Plan F members.
I am sure that in 2019 we will be hearing from many of the insurance companies with an explanation of how to best proceed in the future but in the meantime be aware.