Aetna Medicare Supplement Insurance 2022 Review
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Aetna is the third-largest health insurer in the U.S. [1]. It offers Medicare Supplement Insurance, or Medigap, in 43 states.
Aetna generally offers Medigap Plan A, Plan B, Plan G and Plan N for all Medicare members, plus Plan F for those who qualify. Some states have additional options.
For popular plans like Plan G and Plan N, Aetna’s premiums are close to the lowest on the market. Premiums aren’t as low for some other plan options, though, and customers file complaints about Aetna’s Medigap insurance at rates significantly above the market average.
Here’s what you should know about Aetna Medicare Supplement Insurance.
Aetna Medicare Supplement Insurance pros and cons
Aetna’s Medigap offerings have advantages and disadvantages.
Pros | Cons |
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Available Medicare Supplement Insurance plans
Aetna generally offers these Medicare Supplement Insurance plans for any Medicare member:
Medigap Plan A — the basic benefits included in every Medigap plan without any extras.
Medigap Plan B — basic benefits plus coverage for the Medicare Part A deductible.
Medigap Plan G — the highest-coverage option available to new Medicare members. Available as a high-deductible plan in some locations.
Medigap Plan N — a plan with lower premiums but higher copays.
Aetna also offers Medigap Plan D, a mid-cost option that covers most Medigap benefits, in some states. Select your state on Aetna’s website to see an outline of the options available in your location.
Medigap Plan F and the high-deductible version of Plan F are also generally available for qualifying beneficiaries who were eligible to enroll in Medicare prior to 2020. Newer Medicare members can’t buy these plans from any insurer. Medigap Plan C, which has the same restrictions as Plan F, is also available in some locations.
Additional benefits
Medigap plans have standardized Medicare benefits, but insurers can offer additional perks. Here are the extras available with some Aetna policies:
Aetna Member Discount program: Some plans include discounts on certain hearing and vision exams, hearing aids and batteries, eyewear, and other health and wellness products.
LifeMart program: Some plans offer general discounts on travel, memberships, event tickets and other products and services from participating businesses.
Aetna Medicare Supplement Insurance service area
Aetna offers Medicare Supplement Insurance plans in 43 states. (Aetna doesn’t offer Medigap policies in Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Washington state or Washington, D.C.)
Aetna reports that it covers about 1.2 million Medicare Supplement Insurance beneficiaries. The company’s share of the total Medicare Supplement Insurance market as of the end of 2020 is about 5.3% [2].
Cost
The following price quotes were obtained for three states representing above-average, average and below-average costs for Medicare Supplement Insurance, when compared across all plans and providers using pricing data from Medicare.gov [3]:
Nevada: More expensive than average.
Nebraska: Average cost for the U.S.
Ohio: Less expensive than average.
The sections below show pricing information from Aetna for a 65-year-old female nonsmoker and reflect base pricing with discounts removed or factored out whenever the option was available. (Note: Some Medigap prices may be higher for males.)
For comparison, each table also includes the price for the least-expensive option to buy the same plan from other providers, based on information from Medicare.gov. For example, Aetna’s price for Medigap Plan A in Sandusky, Ohio, appears alongside the lowest price on Medicare.gov for all Plan A policies available in Sandusky to an applicant with identical demographics.
Plan A
On average, Aetna’s quoted prices for Medigap Plan A were about 43% higher than the least-expensive Plan A policy in the area.
Aetna-quoted price | Medicare.gov lowest price | |
|---|---|---|
Reno, Nevada | $119.62. | $77. |
Lincoln, Nebraska | $108.96. | $82. |
Sandusky, Ohio | $97.29. | $69. |
Plan B
On average, Aetna’s quoted prices for Medigap Plan B were about 12% higher than the least-expensive Plan B policy in the area.
Aetna-quoted price | Medicare.gov lowest price | |
|---|---|---|
Reno, Nevada | $136.95. | $112. |
Lincoln, Nebraska | $119.20. | $113. |
Sandusky, Ohio | $114.79. | $105. |
Plan G
Standard Plan G
On average, Aetna’s quoted prices for Medigap Plan G were about 15% higher than the least-expensive Plan G policy in the area.
Aetna-quoted price | Medicare.gov lowest price | |
|---|---|---|
Reno, Nevada | $121.95. | $101. |
Lincoln, Nebraska | $106.29. | $98. |
Sandusky, Ohio | $105.62. | $92. |
High-deductible Plan G
On average, Aetna’s quoted prices for the high-deductible version of Plan G were about 63% higher than the least-expensive high-deductible Plan G policy in the area.
Aetna-quoted price | Medicare.gov lowest price | |
|---|---|---|
Reno, Nevada | $45.73. | $25. |
Sandusky, Ohio | $44.48. | $31. |
(Aetna didn’t offer high-deductible Plan G in Lincoln, Nebraska, when quotes were obtained for this review.)
Plan N
On average, Aetna’s quoted prices for Medigap Plan N policies were about 12% higher than the least-expensive Plan N policy in the area.
Aetna-quoted price | Medicare.gov lowest price | |
|---|---|---|
Reno, Nevada | $91.96. | $78. |
Lincoln, Nebraska | $78.89. | $75. |
Sandusky, Ohio | $82.80. | $73. |
Policy fee
Aetna charges a one-time policy fee for new enrollees in most states. The fee is typically $20, but it may be a little higher or lower depending on the state. There are a handful of states with no policy fee.
You can find the policy fee for your state under the rate tables in the “Outline of Coverage” documents for each state on Aetna’s website.
Discounts
Here are some examples of Aetna discounts that are available to qualifying Medicare Supplement Insurance applicants:
Household: Some applicants can qualify for premium discounts if a spouse, civil union partner or other adult with whom they have lived for at least 12 months also enrolls in or already has an Aetna Medigap plan. This discount is typically 7% but varies by state.
Multiple policy types: Some members with Aetna Medigap policies can qualify for lower rates on other Aetna insurance products, such as final expense whole life insurance policies.
Available discounts can vary according to factors such as your location, household status and how you apply for a policy.
Aetna’s spending on care
75.6% for member benefits
Medicare Supplement Insurance providers must report data on the premiums they collect and how much they spend to provide benefits for members.
Based on the most recent year of data, Aetna Medicare Supplement Insurance plans spend about 75.6% of premiums on member benefits [4]. The other 24.4% goes to overhead expenses like administrative costs, marketing, salaries and commissions.
For comparison, the average for all providers is 72.3%. The minimum required by law for individual Medigap policies is 60% [5].
Member complaints
67% above average
Members file complaints about Aetna Medicare Supplement Insurance plans about 67% more often than the average for all Medigap plans. This is according to three years’ worth of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners for Aetna and its subsidiaries that sell Medigap policies [6].
Measured across all of their insurance offerings, Aetna and those subsidiaries have higher complaint rates than the market average, but not to the same extent as for Medigap policies. Those companies’ average complaint rate across all insurance types they offer was about 10% above the average for all insurers over the same three years of data.
Customer service
Here’s how Aetna Medigap members can contact customer service:
Call Aetna’s Medicare Supplement customer service line at 888-624-6290, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central time, seven days a week. (TTY dial 711 and follow the prompts.)
Email Aetna through an email contact form.
Contact Aetna through Twitter.
Contact Aetna through Facebook.
Third-party ratings
There are a few companies that weigh in on customers’ experiences with insurers or the strength of the company in question, and we’ve included two here:
Compare alternatives
Here's how Medicare Supplement Insurance providers compare with Aetna.
Compare Medicare Supplement Insurance providers | |
|---|---|
Complaint rate: 67% worse than the market average. Service area: 43 states. Percent of premiums spent on benefits: 75.6%. | |
Complaint rate: 63% better than the market average. Service area: 50 states and Washington, D.C. Percent of premiums spent on benefits: 71.7%. | |
Complaint rate: 24% worse than the market average. Service area: 16 states. Percent of premiums spent on benefits: 68.6%. | |
Complaint rate: 0.4% better than the market average. Service area: 50 states and Washington, D.C. Percent of premiums spent on benefits: 72.6%. | |
Complaint rate: 40% worse than the market average. Service area: 48 states and Washington, D.C. Percent of premiums spent on benefits: 75%. | |
Complaint rate: 335% worse than the market average. Service area: 49 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Percent of premiums spent on benefits: 77%. | |
Complaint rate: 62% better than the market average. Service area: 49 states and Washington, D.C. Percent of premiums spent on benefits: 71.4%. | |
Complaint rate: 50% better than the market average. Service area: 45 states and Washington, D.C. Percent of premiums spent on benefits: 71.7%. | |
About Aetna
Aetna was founded in 1853 in Hartford, Connecticut, and the insurer became a subsidiary of CVS Health in 2018. The company’s headquarters are still in Hartford.
Aetna’s health insurance offerings include medical, dental, pharmacy and behavioral health. Aetna offers both individual and group health insurance, including Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare prescription drug plans and Medicare Supplement Insurance. As of June 2021, Aetna covers almost 9.8 million Medicare members in the U.S., including more than 1.2 million Medicare Supplement Insurance members.
CVS Health posted annual revenues of $292.1 billion in 2021.
Find the right Medicare Supplement Insurance plan
Because Medigap plans are standardized, you can get precisely the same Medicare benefits from any company offering the plan. So when you shop, keep these considerations in mind to find the best policy to fit your needs:
Is your preferred plan available? Health insurance companies don’t always sell every plan, so check who sells the plan you want to buy in your area.
What are the premiums? Prices for the same plan can vary between companies, so check to find the most competitive rates.
Will your premiums change over time? Most policies cost more as you age, but some companies offer policies that let you lock in a price when you sign up.
Are there extras? Medigap plans’ core benefits are standardized, but in certain cases, some companies include such perks as discount programs or gym memberships.
If you have additional questions about Medicare, visit Medicare.gov or call 800-MEDICARE (800-633-4227, TTY 877-486-2048).
ARTICLE SOURCES
