Ratings Methodology for
Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap)
NerdWallet’s ratings for Medicare Supplement Insurance, or Medigap, companies take into account the following details about each insurance company:

• Premiums.
• Consumer complaints.
• Discounts.
• Plan types offered.
• Medical loss ratios.
• Availability of online price quotes.
• Extra non-Medicare perks and benefits.

The best Medigap insurance companies offer competitive premiums, especially for the most popular standardized plan types. They make pricing information readily available and have few customer complaints. They might also offer helpful non-Medicare extras, such as fitness memberships, meal delivery services or driver safety courses.

Data collection and review process
NerdWallet reviewed 13 Medicare Supplement Insurance companies based on highest enrollment and greatest online search volume.

We review companies covering nearly 87% of all Medigap beneficiaries in the United States.

At the state level, our research includes the two largest Medigap insurance companies in 45 out of 50 states, plus Washington, D.C. We cover at least one of the two largest Medigap companies in every state.

We collect data points for each Medicare Supplement Insurance company from its public-facing websites, plan materials, company representatives, public filings and regulator data. These data points are then compared against one another and against NerdWallet’s standards for good health insurance companies to determine a star rating.

Data is collected on a regular basis and reviewed by our editorial team for consistency and accuracy. Final star ratings are presented on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, where a 1-star score represents "poor" and a 5-star score represents "excellent." Ratings are rounded to the nearest half-star.

(We publish an informational review for Blue Cross Blue Shield, but because rating factors can differ significantly among over 30 different BCBS licensees across the country, we don’t assign a star rating to Blue Cross Blue Shield. When we evaluate individual BCBS licensees, such as Anthem, we do assign a star rating.)

Note: The federal government calculates its own star ratings for Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, but there are no government star ratings for Medicare Supplement Insurance. NerdWallet’s Medigap star ratings are independently researched, calculated and maintained.
Information updates
Our writers and editors review insurance companies on at least an annual basis and make additional updates throughout the year as necessary. We maintain contact with companies and monitor public data and regulatory filings to keep information current.
The review team
The writers and editors behind our Medicare Supplement Insurance reviews are insurance specialists who have had their work featured by or appear in The Associated Press, The Washington Post, USA Today, ABC News, Yahoo Finance, Nasdaq and MarketWatch. Each writer and editor follows NerdWallet’s strict guidelines for editorial integrity.

In addition to Medicare Supplement Insurance, the team also covers Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D and other subjects related to older adults’ health care and finances.
Factor weightings
Our star ratings are weighted based on our editorial and professional opinions. We use the following weightings when rating Medicare Supplement Insurance companies:

  • Premiums (35%).
  • Price increases (15%).
  • Consumer complaints (25%).
  • Availability of online price quotes (10%).
  • Plan types (5%).
  • Spending on care (5%).
  • Bundled extras (5%).

    • Premiums: We collect data from price estimates for each reviewed company on file with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services. We compare prices for the two most popular plan types available to new Medicare beneficiaries: Plan G and Plan N. We analyze and score premiums for both plans in multiple locations representing higher-cost, average-cost and lower-cost areas of the country. Our comparison uses price estimates for a new 65-year-old female nonsmoker, including any applicable household discounts offered. Companies’ prices are scored based on how close they are to the lowest price offered by any company for the same plan type in the same location.

    Price increases: We analyze historical prices we’ve collected for our reviewed companies to compare how companies raise their rates over time. We use companies’ pre-discount prices for Plan G and Plan N to calculate a rolling multi-year average of each company’s annual rate increases. The highest scores go to the companies with the smallest average annual price hikes.

    Consumer complaints: We examine complaints received by state insurance regulators and reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. We combine the records of our reviewed companies’ subsidiaries to calculate a multi-year index of how many complaints the company receives relative to its market share. Companies score well if they receive fewer complaints than average, given their share of the total Medicare Supplement Insurance market.

    NerdWallet conducts its data analysis and reaches conclusions independently and without the endorsement of the NAIC.

    Discounts: We score companies based on the availability and size of premium discounts offered to applicants. We use the household discounts included with the Plan G and Plan N price estimates we obtain as the main source for this comparison, with additional information from companies’ representatives and/or websites factored in when relevant.

    Availability of online price quotes: We consider whether customers can get personalized price quotes on the company’s website. This is a “yes” or “no” score.

    Plan types: Companies that offer a larger number of the 10 standardized Medigap plan types rank higher in this category. We counted plan types based on the options most commonly offered in the majority of states where a company does business. We generally don’t score companies based on other plan variations such as high-deductible plans, Medicare Select plans, state-specific plans in Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and other innovative or waivered plan types, unless we consider a company’s non-standard offerings to be unique and valuable enough to qualify for bonus points.

    Spending on care: We analyze and compare companies’ medical loss ratios: how much of their income from premiums they spend to pay members’ claims. Companies rank better on this metric if they spend more on benefits and less on other overhead expenses such as administrative costs, marketing, salaries and commissions.

    Extra perks: The Medicare benefits of each Medigap plan are standardized, but companies can offer extra perks and certain non-Medicare benefits on top of the mandatory benefits that are the same for everyone. We scored companies based on the availability and value of any extra perks offered. Examples include discount programs for health and wellness products, free or discounted fitness memberships, 24/7 nurse lines, driver safety courses and meal delivery services.

    Bonus points may be awarded to insurance companies that offer unique and useful features that wouldn’t be accounted for elsewhere in the rubric, such as a non-standard plan type not available from any other company.

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