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MyMedigapRate

Turning 65 in Minnesota

The federal deadlines are the same everywhere. What changes state by state is how much room you have to change your mind afterwards — and in Minnesota, that is worth knowing before you choose, not after.

The two federal windows

These apply in Minnesota exactly as they do everywhere else.

  • Initial Enrollment Period — 7 months. The three months before your 65th birthday month, that month, and the three after.[Medicare.gov] Miss it without a special enrollment period and the Part B premium may rise 10% for each full 12 months you could have enrolled and did not, generally for as long as you have Part B.[Medicare.gov]
  • Medigap Open Enrollment — 6 months, once. Starts the first month you are 65 or older and enrolled in Part B.[Medicare.gov] Inside it no insurer can decline you or price you on your health. Outside it, without a guaranteed issue right, they may do both.[Medicare.gov]

The full walk-through of both windows, and the order to do things in.

What Minnesota adds after that: state-standardised plans

Minnesota does not use the federal plan letters. Policies are designated Basic or Extended Basic under state law, with riders and further variants on top, so a Plan G comparison from another state does not describe what is sold here.

Read in Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes’s own material on 2026-08-30: Minnesota Statutes §62A.31 — Medicare supplement benefits; minimum standards. State rules change by legislation, so confirm the current wording before you act on it — and note that a window being open is not the same as an insurer being obliged to sell you any plan you want.

Because Minnesota standardises its own plans rather than using the federal letters, most national Medigap comparison content — including plan-letter tables — does not describe what is actually sold here. Treat any site that shows you a Plan G comparison for Minnesota with real caution.

What to compare while your window is open

Benefits are fixed by plan letter, so the differences that remain are price and behaviour. Behaviour is the one that compounds.

Most policies are attained-age-rated, which means the premium climbs with your age every year in addition to any filed rate increase — Medicare’s guidance notes these “may be the least expensive at first, but they can eventually become the most expensive.”[Medicare.gov] How the three pricing methods differ.

Everything we hold for Minnesota, including which figures have cleared verification and which have not.

If you are already past 65

This page is about the window. If yours has closed and your premium has jumped, the question is a different one — whether the increase is your age, your block, or a block that has stopped taking new customers. Working out which one is happening to you.

Free help in Minnesota

Minnesota has a State Health Insurance Assistance Program offering free, unbiased, one-to-one Medicare counselling, funded federally rather than by carriers.[SHIP National Technical Assistance Center] Find it through the SHIP locator or by calling 1-877-839-2675. We recommend using it even if you also talk to us — and note that neither route costs you anything. You pay the same premium whichever way you buy: the commission comes out of the carrier's filed rate, it is never added to yours. Going direct to the insurer does not make the policy cheaper, and using us does not make it dearer.

Where this comes from

Every rule and deadline on this page is stated from a federal source. Each entry below says what we relied on it for and when we last read it. If something here disagrees with Medicare, Medicare is right — tell us and we will fix it.

  1. When can I sign up for Medicare? — Medicare.gov. Read 2026-08-30.The Initial Enrollment Period runs seven months: the three months before the month you turn 65, that month, and the three months after.
  2. Avoid late enrollment penalties — Medicare.gov. Read 2026-08-30.The Part B premium may rise 10% for each full 12-month period you could have had Part B and did not enroll, and the penalty generally lasts as long as you have Part B.
  3. When can I buy a Medigap policy? — Medicare.gov. Read 2026-08-30.The Medigap Open Enrollment Period is six months, begins the first month you are 65 or older and enrolled in Part B, and does not repeat.
  4. Get ready to buy a Medigap policy — Medicare.gov. Read 2026-08-30.Outside open enrollment and without a guaranteed issue right, an insurer may use medical underwriting and may decline an application.
  5. Medigap costs — how insurance companies price policies — Medicare.gov. Read 2026-08-30.Medigap policies are priced one of three ways: community-rated, issue-age-rated, or attained-age-rated. Attained-age premiums rise with the policyholder's age.
  6. Choosing a Medigap Policy — the official government guide (PDF) — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Read 2026-08-30.The official plain-language guide to Medigap benefits, pricing methods, enrollment timing and guaranteed issue rights.
  7. About SHIPs — free Medicare counselling — SHIP National Technical Assistance Center. Read 2026-08-30.State Health Insurance Assistance Programs give free, unbiased, one-to-one Medicare counselling and take no commission.