“I Would Never Give That Up”: Why So Many Plan F Holders Are Overpaying and Don’t Realize It.

I wanted to share something that happened to me a few weeks ago at a community event, because I think it’s worth passing along.

A Medicare member walked past our display table and, without even stopping, announced with real pride: “I’ve got the best plan there is, Plan F, and I would never give that up for anything.” I hear a version of that sentence almost every week, so I asked him a simple question: would he say it’s a better deal to save $1,000 a year in premium, if the only tradeoff was paying the Part B deductible (currently $283)? He didn’t hesitate. “No,” he said.

That answer stuck with me. Afterward, I found myself wondering how high that savings number would have needed to be before he said yes. $1,500? $2,000? Or was the answer simply “no,” no matter what number we used? Because for a growing number of Plan F holders, it seems the number almost doesn’t matter. The plan has become an identity, not a financial decision.

Here’s what’s actually happening with Plan F pricing. Premiums have been climbing steadily for years, and the trend isn’t slowing down. I’m now routinely seeing members pay $400 or more a month for Plan F, when a nearly identical Plan G is available for at least $70 less per month, often over $800 a year in savings.

Here’s the part that gets lost: Plan F and Plan G cover exactly the same things, with one single difference. Plan F pays the annual Part B deductible ($283 in 2026); Plan G does not, so you pay that deductible yourself, once, each year. Everything else, including hospital costs, Part B coinsurance, excess charges, skilled nursing, and foreign travel emergency, is identical between the two plans.

So the real question almost every Plan F holder should be asking is this: am I paying more than the value of the deductible I’m avoiding? When someone is paying $70, $80, or even $100-plus more a month for Plan F than they would for Plan G, they are spending $840 to $1,200-plus a year to avoid a $283 expense. In the overwhelming majority of cases I review, that math simply doesn’t work in the member’s favor, and yet many people won’t even entertain the conversation.

I also hear this often: “My agent says it’s the best plan, never let it go.” That deserves a closer look. Plan F was an excellent plan when it was priced competitively, but “best” isn’t a fixed label; it’s a moving target that depends on cost. A plan that pays a $283 deductible for you isn’t automatically the best plan if it’s charging you $1,000-plus a year extra to do it.

I frequently hear, too, “My Medicare Supplement pays for everything,” almost as if the insurance company is doing the member a personal favor. But that’s not really how it works: if Medicare approves the service, the supplement company is required to pay its share of the claim. That’s the entire purpose of the policy. Plan G pays those same claims, at the same rate, for the same approved services. The only thing Plan G doesn’t automatically pay is that one annual deductible, which you pay out of pocket, once.

One more argument I still hear, especially from longtime Plan F holders, traces back to when the Affordable Care Act passed. At the time, some people were told the Part B deductible could rise sharply in the future, and that locking in Plan F’s deductible coverage was a way to protect against that risk.

Here’s the flaw in that logic: insurance companies don’t absorb rising costs; they pass them on to you. If a Plan F carrier is currently charging an extra $500 or more a year to cover a $283 deductible, ask yourself what they would charge to cover a $1,000 deductible. They aren’t going to quietly eat that difference. Your premium would simply rise right along with it. Whatever the future deductible turns out to be, Plan F pricing will already have that risk baked in, and then some, since carriers also build in profit margin and administrative cost on top of the deductible itself. In other words, the very feature people are afraid to give up doesn’t actually protect them from rising costs; it just changes which line item those rising costs show up on.

I’m not suggesting Plan G is automatically right for everyone; a licensed review of your specific premiums and health situation is always the right way to decide. But if you’re currently on Plan F and haven’t looked at the numbers in a while, it’s worth five minutes of your time. In almost every case I review, the premium difference between Plan F and Plan G is significantly larger than the $283 deductible it’s meant to cover.

If you’d like us to run a side-by-side comparison of your current Plan F premium against available Plan G options in your area, give us a call at 330.633.7713 or email us. There’s no cost, no obligation, just the numbers, so you can decide for yourself.

Thank you for allowing us to serve you, and we look forward to continuing to be your trusted advisors for years to come!