Aetna Medicare Supplement Plans

Aetna has provided Americans with various forms of health and life insurance coverage since 1853. Many seniors may already be familiar with both Aetna itself and with Aetna’s parent company, CVS Health. Aetna offers its Medicare Supplement plans through several different subsidiary companies. The subsidiary used in each state varies. 

Aeta is one of the largest providers of private insurance products that are designed to work with the Medicare system. This company offers not only Medicare Supplement Insurance plans, but also Medicare Part D (prescription drug coverage), and Medicare Advantage. Note that it’s possible to use Aetna Part D insurance with an Aetna Medicare Supplement plan since Medicare Supplements don’t include drug coverage. However, it’s not possible or legal to combine an Aetna Medicare Supplement with any form of Medicare Advantage.

The Basics of Aetna Medicare Supplement Insurance

Medicare Supplement Insurance (also sometimes called Medigap) policies are designed to make seniors’ medical costs more predictable. This kind of insurance is only for those who already have and use Original Medicare since it builds upon (“supplements”) the coverage of Original Medicare. If you read Medicare Costs at a Glance, you can learn how those who have Medicare Parts A and B still owe deductibles (a fee that must be paid before yearly coverage begins), copays (flat fees for services), and coinsurance (percentage-based charges for services). Without a Medicare Supplement plan, Medicare patients typically must pay for 20% of their healthcare costs.

When you join a Medicare Supplement plan, you are no longer responsible for all of your Original Medicare deductibles and/or for the full 20% of costs that Medicare doesn’t cover. The Medicare Supplement plan that you choose covers some or even most of these costs, in addition to other extra services, in exchange for the cost of a regular insurance premium that you pay monthly, yearly or on some other schedule.

Overview of Aetna Medicare Supplement Plans

Although Aetna Medicare Supplements are in no way issued by or funded by Medicare, they are highly regulated by it. Medicare decides which plans can be offered. Currently, companies can legally offer the following plans: A, B, D, G, High-Deductible G, K, L, M, and N. They can also offer plans C, F, and High-Deductible F, but only to seniors who were eligible for Medicare prior to January 1, 2020. Plans C and F are in the process of being phased out, so they are not available to those who are newly eligible for Medicare.

Aetna offers several but not all of the possible Medicare Supplement plans. The table below shows all Aetna options for those who were eligible to sign up on or after January 1, 2020. Note that all of these plans also include 365 extra days of coverage for hospital stays once the typical covered amount authorized by Medicare is used up. A checkmark in the table indicates complete coverage of an item.

*Excess charges occur when a doctor charges the patient more than Medicare is willing to pay.
**Plan N has a $20 copay for office visits and a $50 copay for emergency room visits.

In addition to the plans above, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have their own forms of standardized plans that are regulated on the state level. Aetna offers these alternative plans in Wisconsin and Minnesota but not in Massachusetts. The Medicare.gov pages Medigap in Wisconsin and Medigap in Minnesota provide more details on how these alternative plans work.

Since Aetna does not offer plans K and L, none of its plans have out-of-pocket spending limits. If you look at plans from other companies you may see out-of-pocket spending limits discussed. Plans K and L offer relatively low levels of coverage, so they have spending limits to protect customers in case of catastrophic health costs.

The Cost of Aetna Medicare Supplement Plans

The costs of Aetna Medicare Supplement plans vary widely due to a number of factors. Most policy costs are based on age and are scheduled to increase a modest amount every year or every few years. In most states, Aetna charges men higher rates than it charges women. The difference is typically a few hundred dollars per year.

Finally, since different plans offer different levels of coverage, they also have different premiums. The low end of annual premiums for Aetna Medicare Supplement plans is around $912 and the high end is around $4,800. Monthly premiums may be anywhere from $76-$400.

If you wait too long to join a Medicare Supplement plan, you may have to pay extra for it or you may even be denied coverage. Due to these potential problems, the best time to enroll in a Medicare Supplement policy is during the first six months that you are eligible for and enrolled in Medicare Part B. You can learn more about eligibility for Medicare Supplements by reading “When Can I Buy Medigap?” on the official Medicare website.

Unique Benefits and Drawbacks of Aetna Medicare Supplement Insurance

Like all companies, Aetna has its strengths and weaknesses. Consider how the benefits and drawbacks detailed below might affect your decision to purchase a policy from Aetna.

Benefits of Aetna Medicare Supplement Plans

• Household Discount: Couples who get their Medicare Supplement Insurance through Aetna have the opportunity to save a significant amount on their premiums each month. You must get individual policies, but having more than one policy in the home can mean between a 5%-12% premium discount. Seniors need not be married to get this discount; civil union partnerships and seniors who are “permanent residents” in the same home may also benefit from the discount.
• Free-Look Period: Aetna offers a free-look (return) period of 30 days for its Medicare Supplement policies. If you change your mind and disenroll from the plan within 30 days, you can get a full return of your payments. Knowing that you have a return option for about the first month can give you added peace of mind. Ask your agent in your state for specific details on how to return your policy.
• Outline of Coverage: Aetna lists very detailed “outlines of coverage” online for 21 of the states that it offers plans in. These documents include pricing charts that are based on age, coverage charts that go into great detail on each available policy, information on legal obligations, and more. Perusing them can help you understand what this company has to offer.

Drawbacks of Aetna Medicare Supplement Plans

• Pricing Structure: Aetna plans utilize attained age pricing unless expressly forbidden to by state law. Attained age pricing increases each year or every few years as the senior “attains” an older age. Other companies may use issue age pricing or community pricing — two alternative forms of pricing that tend to remain low over time, though these pricing structures are less common than attained age pricing. The regular price increases built into most Aetna policies may be a downside for many customers, though they are common with numerous other companies as well. Prospective Aetna customers should ask about how much costs will increase in their state as they age.
• Missing and Old Information: Overall, Aetna’s website offers plentiful, easy-to-read policy details for consumers. However, for some states, information may be outdated or missing. Pricing from 2019 is currently still on the site, and about half of the states that Aetna offers coverage in do not have a listed outline of coverage. In many cases, seniors will need to call Aetna to learn more about the plans and prices that are available.

Customer Reviews of Aetna Medicare Supplement Plans

Looking at reviews from other customers can help you gauge how likely you are to be happy with an Aetna Medicare Supplement plan. Below we’ve included information gathered directly from online reviews. Reviewers of health insurance don’t always list exactly which kind of Aetna plan they have, so most of the information below applies to Aetna as a whole rather than just to Medicare Supplements.

Positive Reviews from Aetna Customers

On the Google business profile of the Hartford, Connecticut Aetna headquarters, roughly half of all the reviews have either five or four stars (five stars is the maximum). Many of these reviews lack specificity but are generally positive in tone. 

Reviews that do offer specific, positive feedback tend to emphasize prompt responses to their needs and the pleasant attitudes of customer service representatives. One customer said that “they covered/cover everything with no questions asked, trouble-free. Everyone has been first-class and very polite.”  Another stated that “when I’ve called customer service they have been usually very helpful and the issues have been resolved.”

Negative Reviews from Aetna Customers

An issue that several Aetna customers mention on Google reviews is the “language barrier” that call center employees frequently have. Like many large corporations, Aetna has customer service representatives all over the world. Most reviewers note that these representatives are polite and try to be helpful, but that they may use a “canned script” or else are just difficult for most American English speakers to understand.

In rare cases, reviewers note that they have had problems with Aetna’s billing system. One reviewer on TrustPilot who had a Medicare Supplement plan wrote that he requested a monthly bill but was initially billed for three months instead. This reviewer writes that he “had to call Aetna, and it took hours, days, to have this faux pas corrected.”

We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.