The HDG Combo

It is two things working together.

• High-Deductible Plan G (HDG): a Medicare Supplement with the same benefits as Plan G, for a much lower premium, in exchange for a yearly deductible.
• A few small cash policies for the big stuff: cancer, heart attack or stroke, and a hospital stay.

You take part of what you save on premium and use it to cover the events that can wreck a retirement budget. The goal is a Medigap plan you can afford at 65 that still fits you well at age 85.

Because it is one Medigap plan plus the cash policies you pick. HDG Combo is our name for it. You will not find it on a Medicare chart, because it is a strategy, not a plan letter.

Same letter, and the same benefits once you meet the deductible. The difference is you cover a yearly deductible first, $2,950 in 2026. You keep all the freedom: any doctor or hospital in the country that accepts Medicare. No networks. No referrals. No prior authorizations.

But it is not the same plan. Until you reach the deductible, you pay your share of the bills. And adding the cash policies does not create a Plan G. They pay you cash for the big events, but they do not cover everything a Plan G would.

No. You pick the pieces. Some people take all three cash policies, some take one, and some take none. At HDGcombo.com you choose which cash policies go into your combo and see the total, then keep only what feels worth it to you.

For years, Plan G premiums rose slowly and it was the easy answer. That changed. Plan G increases have averaged about 9% a year lately, and every one of those increases hits your whole premium. Once that math changed, the combo started making a lot of sense to a lot of people.

Want to see what those increases do over 10, 20, or 25 years? Plug your own premiums into our long-term cost calculator at Medigapmath.com.

No. This is the number one myth. Original Medicare still pays its share from day one.

Think of HDG as Original Medicare with a spending cap. You pay your normal Medicare share of each bill until your share adds up to $2,950 for the year. After that, your plan pays 100% of Medicare-covered costs for the rest of the calendar year.

Here is the cost sharing, line by line.

Medicare sets these amounts and updates them every year. Figures shown are for 2026.

Quick comparison: regular Plan G pays the Part A hospital deductible for you. With HDG, you pay it, and it counts toward your $2,950.

A quiet year. Your annual wellness visit is $0. Say the rest of your doctor visits and tests come to $2,000 in Medicare-approved charges. You pay the $283 Part B deductible, then 20% of the remaining $1,717, which is $343.40. Your total for the year is $626.40. Medicare pays the rest.

A big year. Say you are admitted to the hospital. You pay the $1,736 Part A deductible plus your share of the doctor bills. The moment your total reaches $2,950, you are done paying for Medicare-covered care for the year. Meanwhile, your cash policies pay you. In the HDGcombo.com example, hospital indemnity pays $350 a day, so a 4-day stay puts $1,400 in your pocket. If it was a heart attack, a stroke, or a cancer diagnosis, a $10,000 example benefit is more than 3x the entire deductible.

Round numbers for illustration only. Your real costs depend on the care you get and the policies you choose.

Think of your premium as money you are holding. With regular Plan G, you send a bigger premium to the insurance company every month. With HDG, you send a much smaller one and keep the difference. Quiet year? That money stayed with you. Big year? The cash policies are there to catch it. You are really deciding who holds your money: the insurance company, or you.

One of our followers, Frank, has been on a high-deductible Medigap plan for 12 years and has never paid more than $800 in a year. That does not mean a bigger year cannot happen. It just shows how rarely the full deductible comes into play.

Most people spend about $600 in a typical year. The full $2,950 usually comes with a big event, and the big events are exactly what the cash policies are built for.

A little each year, and it is predictable. By law, the deductible is tied to the CPI-U, the government's main measure of consumer inflation. Medicare (CMS) adjusts it once a year to match, so it rises gradually with prices instead of jumping around. It was $2,870 in 2025 and is $2,950 in 2026. It resets every January 1.

The deductible over the last 10 years: 2016 $2,180, 2017 $2,200, 2018 $2,240, 2019 $2,300, 2020 $2,340, 2021 $2,370, 2022 $2,490, 2023 $2,700, 2024 $2,800, 2025 $2,870, 2026 $2,950. That is $770 over 10 years, roughly 3% a year.

A common myth: the insurance company can raise your deductible to $10,000 whenever it wants. It cannot. Medicare sets the deductible, not the insurance company, and it is the same amount on every High-Deductible G plan in the country.

Please do not. Your preventive care is $0 anyway, and the whole point of the combo is that you can use your coverage without flinching. Get the care.

• Cancer: a lump sum of cash when you are diagnosed with a covered cancer, for example $10,000 or $20,000, you choose.
• Heart attack or stroke: a lump sum of cash after a covered event, for example $10,000 or $20,000, you choose.
• Hospital indemnity: cash when you are admitted to the hospital, for example $350 a day for up to 6 days, or a $2,000 lump sum, you choose.

You choose the benefit amounts. A bigger benefit means a bigger premium.

You do. It is paid directly to you, on top of whatever Medicare and your Medigap plan pay. Not to the hospital. Not to the doctor. To you.

Anything. The deductible, the mortgage, groceries, gas to see a specialist, help around the house while you recover. No receipts to turn in.

These are generally paid as non-taxable indemnity benefits, so they are generally not counted as income and do not push up your IRMAA. We are licensed insurance agents, not tax advisors, so check your own situation with your tax pro.

It is not meant to. You already have medical coverage that pays for your body's care. This is added cash on top of that, to use for anything you need, related to the diagnosis or completely unrelated. The deductible, a second opinion, the mortgage, or literally a vacation. And if you want a bigger cushion, you can choose a bigger benefit.

No one is saying that. Your Plan G or HDG does a beautiful job with your actual medical care. This cash is there for you to do whatever you need, because a cancer diagnosis can bring a lot of costs to a family. Think about:

• Wigs
• New clothes after losing weight
• Housekeeping help because you are exhausted
• Travel to and from treatment
• Flying a family member in to be with you, if you would like

So many things can be expensive and are not covered by your Plan G or any other Medigap plan. That is what the cash is for.

No. They are separate, limited-benefit insurance policies. They are not Medicare, not a Medicare Supplement, not major medical, and not long-term care insurance. They do not replace your coverage. They pay you cash on top of it.

Many hospital indemnity plans still pay for observation stays, but the rules are carrier specific. Some pay after a set number of hours, and some pay a reduced amount.

No. It resets. Once you have been out of the hospital for a set number of days, often 60, written in your policy, a new stay can pay again.

And it is not limited to 5 days a year. How many days it pays for each stay depends on the plan you pick, commonly up to 20. More days means a higher premium, and alongside a Medigap plan you may not need that many.

Only if you choose the version with a recurrence benefit, and you have to pick it when you apply. It is not about which cancer you get. It is about how long you have gone without treatment, or since your last heart attack or stroke. Without it, the policy pays once.

Most cancers are covered, but not every one. Most plans exclude skin cancer other than malignant melanoma. Some plans let you add a skin cancer rider that pays a smaller amount.

No. How serious it was does not change the payout. But some events can be excluded, like a TIA, a mini-stroke, or a cardiac arrest that was not caused by a heart attack. It depends on the plan, so check the exclusions in your policy.

The cancer and heart attack and stroke policies have a 30-day waiting period before benefits start. Hospital indemnity generally does not cover a condition you were treated for shortly before your start date until the policy has been in force a while. The exact windows are carrier specific.

Yes, a short set. These are simplified issue: a quick yes or no application and a prescription check. No exam. Some health histories will not qualify, which is one more reason to set them up while you are healthy. Some hospital indemnity plans are even guaranteed issue, with no health questions, for certain ages in certain states.

Not on the same policy. You would buy a second policy, answer the health questions again, and pay the price for your age at that time. If there is any chance you will want more, buy it the first time.

Yes. The cash policies are not tied to Medicare enrollment periods, so you can typically add them any time. You will answer health questions, and pre-existing conditions can affect whether you qualify.

In many states, yes. Short-term care helps pay for recovery care Medicare does not cover, like help at home or a stay in assisted living. It works well alongside hospital indemnity: hospital indemnity pays while you are in the hospital, and short-term care helps with the care after. It is not available in every state. For more on short-term care, including pricing, visit IWantSTC.com.

Your price depends on your age, ZIP code, gender, and tobacco use. Here are the age-65 examples from HDGcombo.com.

Examples only, not a quote. See your own numbers in about 20 seconds at HDGcombo.com.

Sometimes, on day one, yes. Look at Michigan and Colorado above. Two things to weigh: the combo includes cash benefits Plan N does not, and the combo is built to rise more slowly. Plan N has also averaged about 7.5% a year in increases lately, on the whole premium. Put the numbers side by side and decide what matters most to you.

• HDG has risen more slowly. Lately, High-Deductible G has averaged about 4% a year in increases, compared with about 9% for Plan G and 7.5% for Plan N.
• The increase only hits the small HDG slice. The cash policies are issue-age rated, which means they are priced on your age when you buy, not your age today.

In the Michigan example, a 9% increase on a $138 Plan G is plus $12.42 a month. A 4% increase on the $43 HDG is plus $1.72.

A real Michigan example: one company's Plan G went up 12%, then 40%, and it has filed another 35% for October 1, 2026. Its High-Deductible G over the same years: 6%, 6%, 6%. Past increases never promise future ones, but that is the pattern we keep seeing.

You would still see smaller increases, because you start from a smaller premium. 9% of $43 is $3.87 a month. 9% of $138 is $12.42.

They can, but it is less common. They are guaranteed renewable, and the company cannot raise your rate because you had a birthday or filed a claim. Any increase has to apply to everyone with your policy type in your state, with written notice first. Nobody can promise a rate will never change.

No. IRMAA, the income-related surcharge, only applies to Medicare Part B and Part D premiums. It does not apply to Medigap premiums.

Earlier. The cash policies cost less the younger you buy them, and you have to qualify on your health, which can change. If you are new to Medicare, your Medigap open enrollment window is the one time you can get HDG with no health questions.

Your 6-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period starts the month your Part B starts. During those 6 months, a Medigap company cannot turn you down or charge you more because of your health. It is the ideal time to set up the combo. The cash policies still ask their short set of health questions.

No. Despite the name, High-Deductible Plan G is not an HSA plan. You cannot contribute to an HSA once you are enrolled in any part of Medicare, including Part A. Money already in your HSA can still be used for qualified medical costs, so check the details with your tax pro.

Often, yes. Outside your open enrollment window, the HDG usually requires health questions, and it can be declined. Some states have birthday or anniversary rules that let you move to a plan with equal or lesser benefits, like HDG, without health questions during a window each year. Michigan does not.

When you are switching, we go through the health questions with you first. Then we submit the Medigap first and add the cash policies after it is approved, so you never pay for gap coverage on a plan you did not get.

Usually only by answering health questions, and you can be declined. If being able to change later matters a lot to you, tell us. Innovative Plan G where available, regular Plan G, or Plan N might be a better fit for you.

And birthday rules do not help here. Even in states that have them, they generally do not let you move up from HDG to regular Plan G.

Yes, if you pass medical underwriting. Moving from Medicare Advantage to a Medigap plan usually means answering health questions and being approved. The exceptions: you qualify for a special guaranteed-issue right, or you live in a state like New York that lets you change plans freely.

If you cannot pass, or you would rather stay on your Advantage plan, we absolutely encourage adding the cash policies to it. Go to advantagecombo.com to see the gaps in your plan, price the cash coverage that fills them, and get your plans.

The cash policies, yes. They can be bought well before Medicare, and buying younger usually means a lower price while you are healthy enough to qualify. The HDG piece starts when your Medicare does. One state rule to know: in California, you have to buy these cash policies before you turn 65.

If we are licensed in your state, a licensed agent on our team reaches out to set up your appointment. On that call we confirm what you entered, go over the health questions, build the combo with you, and take the applications. When everything is approved, we walk you through every policy you own, what each one does, and who to call.

If we are not licensed in your state, we hand you to our partner agency. They are fabulous to work with.

No. You pay no fee for our help. We are paid a commission by the insurance company you enroll with.

28 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Not on the list? Submit your request anyway. We will connect you with our partner agency. Plan and product availability varies by state.

Yes. The combo covers your medical costs, but you still need a standalone Part D plan. We help you pick one based on your medications and your pharmacy.

We do. Call us at 248-871-7756. We pull the right form, tell you exactly what the insurance company needs, and stay with it until it is settled. Filing a claim is not a guarantee of payment. Benefits follow the terms of your policy.