Medicare Supplement plans in Minnesota: Basic and Extended Basic

Medicare Supplement insurance — usually called Medigap — is private coverage that pairs with Original Medicare (Parts A and B). Instead of replacing Medicare, it fills the gaps: the deductibles, copayments and coinsurance you’d otherwise pay yourself. You then add a standalone Part D drug plan for prescriptions. What makes Minnesota different is which gaps each plan fills, because the state writes its own plan designs.

Basic vs Extended Basic

Insurers can also sell copay versions of Basic (a set copay for office and emergency visits in exchange for a lower premium, in the spirit of a federal Plan N) and a high-deductible version. The names vary by company; the benefits inside each design do not.

When you can buy one without health questions

• Your six-month open enrollment. It starts the month you are 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. During it, both base plans are guaranteed available regardless of health, and an insurer cannot charge you more for a condition.
• Under 65 on disability. Minnesota extends the same open enrollment to people who qualify for Medicare before 65, something many states do not.
• Guaranteed-issue events. Losing an Advantage, Cost or employer plan through no fault of your own gives you a window (generally 63 days) to buy a supplement without underwriting. The 2026 carrier exits triggered this right for a lot of Minnesotans.
• New: the ages 65–70 window. A 2025 amendment to Minnesota Statutes §62A.31, effective August 1, 2026, lets you buy a supplement one time after your original six-month window has passed, if you are 65 through 70, by applying during the qualifying open-enrollment periods the statute borrows from federal Medicare Advantage rules — the Annual Election Period (October 15 to December 7) and the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (January 1 to March 31). The insurer cannot deny you, condition the policy, or impose pre-existing-condition limits based on your health, claims or age. It can charge a surcharge above its community rate, and the surcharge stays with the policy for as long as it is in force: 15% for first use in 2026, 20% in 2027, 25% in 2028, 30% in 2029 and 35% from 2030 on. August 1 is the date the law takes effect, not a special August enrollment month. It is a real second chance for people who chose Advantage at 65 and regret it; it is not free.

Compare the rate history, not just the first-year price

Because the benefits are standardized, the only real differences between Minnesota Medigap companies are what they charge and how steeply they raise it later. That second part is public: every carrier files its rate increases with the Minnesota Department of Commerce, and a policy that looks cheap at 65 can be the expensive one by 75. We publish that filing history on our research site, Minnesota Medigap rate history, with each figure tied to the filing it came from. If your premium has already gone up and you want to know why, why Medigap premiums increase covers the three causes and how to tell them apart.

Who Medigap tends to suit

People who want maximum freedom to choose doctors and hospitals — Mayo Clinic without a network question, Fargo or Sioux Falls without a border question — predictable costs, and coverage that travels. That last point is why so many Minnesota snowbirds keep a supplement. The cost is a monthly premium that rises with age and with the carrier’s filings.