Medicare Supplement Companies I'd Avoid (And Why)
Every Medigap plan letter is federally standardized, so a Plan G from one carrier covers exactly the same things as a Plan G from any other.
That means the companies I'd steer clients away from aren't offering worse benefits — they're the ones where price, service, and sales practices consistently fall short.
After helping Medicare beneficiaries compare Medigap plans for more than 15 years, these are the five companies that have generated the most complaints, pricing surprises, or buyer's remorse among the people I've worked with.
This article is for you if:
- You're comparing Medigap companies rather than plan letters
- You've already been quoted by one company and want to know if it's competitive
- You want to avoid paying more for identical, standardized coverage
A quick note on "worst": I don't mean these companies offer worse Medicare benefits — every Medigap Plan G is identical, no matter who sells it.
I mean these are the companies I've most often seen disappoint clients because of pricing, service, or sales practices.
How I Evaluated These Companies
This list isn't pulled from a single review site or a survey. It's built from:
- Thousands of Medigap quotes we've compared across carriers over the years
- Policyholder feedback we've received directly
- Premium competitiveness for the same plan letter, in the same market
- Financial strength ratings from AM Best
- Complaint history and firsthand experience helping clients switch carriers
Warning Signs I Look For
Before naming names, it's worth explaining how I actually evaluate a Medigap carrier.
Since the benefits are identical across companies, these four things are what actually separate a good experience from a bad one:
Four factors that matter more than the brand name
- Premium and rate-increase history — today's price, and how often it's climbed in the past
- Financial strength rating — AM Best, S&P, or a similar independent rating
- Customer service reputation — BBB complaints, state insurance department complaint ratios, and verified reviews
- Sales practices — does the agent let you compare plans, or push one product?
The five companies below ended up on this list because they've fallen short on at least two of these four factors.
That's based on what I've seen quoting and servicing clients.
How Their Pricing Compares
Premiums vary by ZIP code, age, gender, and tobacco use, so no single chart applies everywhere.
The numbers below are quoted rates for a 65-year-old male nonsmoker in El Paso, TX (ZIP 79936).
They're meant to illustrate how far apart pricing can get for identical benefits in one market — not to state a universal price for every applicant.
| Company | Plan G | Plan N | Plan A |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cigna | $142.85 | $103.92 | $140.71 |
| Aflac | $149.37 | $106.47 | $143.28 |
| Mutual of Omaha | $184.21 | $139.86 | $184.93 |
| Medico | $159.15 | $116.83 | $151.19 |
| United American | $218.00 | $242.00 | $148.00 |
| GPM Health and Life | $264.68 | $158.97 | $219.30 |
In this specific market, United American and GPM quoted noticeably higher than Cigna for identical Plan G and Plan N coverage.
That gap won't be identical everywhere, but in the quotes I've run, these two carriers show up on the expensive end more often than not.
To put a number on it: in this market, United American and GPM priced 53–85% higher than Cigna for Plan G.
They priced 53–133% higher for Plan N, and 5–56% higher for Plan A — for the exact same standardized benefits.
I've also seen the opposite happen: a carrier that's expensive in Texas can be one of the better values in Pennsylvania or Florida.
That's why I never recommend choosing — or avoiding — a Medigap carrier based on a national ranking alone. Always compare quotes in your own ZIP code before deciding.
The Companies I'd Be Most Careful With
1. Bankers Life
Bankers Life has sold Medicare Supplement plans for decades, largely through door-to-door and in-person agents.
In my experience, that sales model tends to favor presenting one plan rather than a full comparison.
We've fielded calls from Bankers Life policyholders who later found they could buy the same standardized Medigap coverage from another carrier at a lower premium.
The Better Business Bureau has received numerous complaints against the company over the years.
One practical friction point: Bankers Life doesn't offer an online quote tool.
You have to submit a form and wait for an agent to call you back, which removes the option to compare pricing yourself before talking to someone.
Compare Bankers Life against top-rated alternatives →2. United American Insurance Company
United American has been in the Medicare Supplement business for a long time and holds a strong AM Best financial rating — so this isn't a concern about the company's stability.
The issue I run into is price and service.
In the quotes we've reviewed, United American's premiums have landed well above the market average for the same coverage.
We've also heard from policyholders frustrated by unexpected rate increases after enrolling.
Customer service is the other recurring complaint.
Reaching someone who can clearly explain a policy's restrictions or walk through a claim has been a sticking point for several people we've talked to.
See lower-cost Plan G alternatives →3. Medico
Medico's pricing hasn't kept pace with more competitive carriers.
In the quotes we've compared side by side, Medico policyholders are often paying more than they would with a top-tier alternative for identical Plan G or Plan N coverage.
The Better Business Bureau has also received feedback from Medico customers citing unclear coverage details, difficulty getting claims approved, and slow customer service response times.
Read our full Medico review →4. State Farm
State Farm is a well-known name in auto and home insurance, but its Medicare Supplement business is a smaller part of what it does — and it shows in the details.
In the markets we quote, State Farm's Medigap rates often run higher than comparable carriers.
We've also seen fewer of the perks — like premium discounts or fitness program credits — that some competitors build in as standard.
Feedback we've come across also points to limited flexibility once you're enrolled, compared with carriers that specialize in Medicare business specifically.
Compare Plan G pricing across top carriers →5. GPM Health and Life Insurance Company
GPM combines two things I watch closely: above-average premiums and a weaker financial strength rating.
GPM currently carries a B++ rating from AM Best, below the A-rated carriers most beneficiaries lean toward for long-term stability.
In one comparison we ran, a 65-year-old female was quoted $230.15 a month for GPM's Plan G.
Mutual of Omaha — rated A+ by AM Best — quoted the same Plan G coverage at $160.19 a month in the same market. That's roughly 44% more for identical benefits.
Compare GPM to Mutual of Omaha →My Take After 15+ Years
Here's the pattern I've noticed that a pricing table alone won't show you: a lot of the pricing gaps above come down to timing, not just company quality.
More than 10,000 people age into Medicare every day, which makes Medigap one of the most attractive corners of insurance to enter right now.
New carriers show up constantly, and some come in with aggressive introductory pricing.
I've watched this play out with newer entrants: strong pricing and fast enrollment growth early on, followed by a correction once actual claims experience catches up with what they priced for.
When that happens, a carrier either raises rates sharply on existing policyholders or exits the Medigap business. Neither outcome is good for the person who enrolled expecting stability.
I'd put a different lens on the five companies above than "still trying to establish themselves" — several of them, like United American and Medico, have been in Medigap for decades.
Their issue isn't tenure. It's that their pricing and service haven't stayed competitive with carriers that have.
When two carriers look close on paper, I generally lean toward companies with at least five years of Medigap-specific tenure and the scale to back it up — carriers like Aetna, HealthSpring, Mutual of Omaha, and UnitedHealthcare.
That track record means they've already been through a full pricing cycle, so you can see how they behaved when claims ran higher than expected, rather than guessing.
A Better Way to Shop
Since benefits are standardized by plan letter, price, financial strength, service reputation, and sales practices are the differentiators that actually matter — see the four factors above.
Beyond that, a few things consistently help:
- Get quotes from more than one carrier for the same plan letter before you enroll — see our average Medigap cost breakdown for a starting benchmark
- Once you've settled on a plan letter — usually Plan G, Plan N, or High-Deductible Plan G — compare at least three carriers offering that same letter. That's where you'll typically find the biggest opportunity to save.
- Work with a broker who has five-plus years in Medicare specifically, and who will show you options across multiple carriers rather than steering you toward one product
If you want to see the other side of this list, our Best Medicare Supplement Companies guide covers the carriers that consistently score well across all four factors.
FAQs
- What are the best Medigap companies?
- What's the most popular Medigap plan?
- Does a higher premium mean worse coverage?
- Should I avoid these companies entirely?
