UnitedHealthcare has asked New York’s Department of Financial Services to approve rate increases of up to 13.5 percent on AARP-branded Medicare Supplement policies, a request that would raise premiums for roughly 350,000 of its standardized Medigap members in the state starting January 1, 2027. The filing covers every standardized AARP Medigap plan sold in New York, with increases ranging from 11.6 percent to 13.5 percent depending on the rating region and the lettered plan a member holds. Nothing has taken effect yet: New York requires state regulators to review and approve a Medigap rate change before an insurer can charge it.
A filing UnitedHealthcare had to make public
UnitedHealthcare posted the requested increases on its own New York rate-disclosure page, a step insurers selling Medicare Supplement policies in the state take when they file for a rate change. The notice states that standardized AARP Medigap plans, sold under letters A through N, would see increases of 11.6 percent to 13.5 percent, while a much smaller group, about 200 members still holding older pre-standardized policies, face increases ranging from zero to 12.1 percent. Both figures apply to premiums beginning January 1, 2027, if the state approves the filing as submitted.
The roughly 350,000 standardized-plan members named in the filing make up the large majority of UnitedHealthcare’s AARP-branded Medigap book in New York, since pre-standardized policies closed to new buyers years ago and now cover a shrinking group of long-tenured holders. A percentage increase on a book this size affects a materially larger number of premiums than the same percentage would on a newer, smaller pool, even though the filing itself states only the percentage change and not the resulting dollar amounts.
Standardized Medigap plans, identified by letters A through N, offer the same defined set of benefits from every insurer selling that letter in New York, so a rate increase on the AARP-branded book does not change what a Plan G or Plan N policy covers, only what it costs. A member holding a Plan G through UnitedHealthcare faces the same benefit design next year as this year, just at a different price if state regulators approve the request as filed. New York currently standardizes ten Medigap plan letters for sale, so the rate filing’s percentage range applies across that full lineup rather than to a single popular plan.
A proposed Medigap increase in New York: The medication and cost tracker and the New York pack among the 51 state Medicare cost-help packs give a UnitedHealthcare Medigap holder a way to line up the requested 2027 premium against the state programs that lower other Medicare costs. Both come with The Medicare Cost & Coverage Protection Kit.
Why a New York regulator, not the market, sets the number
Medigap premiums in New York are governed by the state’s community-rating rule, which requires every insurer selling a given standardized plan to charge the same rate to every member of that plan regardless of age or health, and requires the state’s financial regulator to review a proposed rate change before it can take effect. That review is why UnitedHealthcare describes the New York filing as a request rather than a new rate: the New York Department of Financial Services can approve the numbers as submitted, reduce them, or reject the filing outright.
The filing does not set out a date for when the department will rule, and UnitedHealthcare’s notice does not name an approved rate, only the range it is seeking. Until the department acts, the January 1, 2027 effective date attached to the filing describes when an approved increase would begin, not a rate members are already paying or one guaranteed to arrive at 13.5 percent.
The review carries particular weight for policyholders who could not easily replace a Medigap plan even if the price rises, since New York and most states guarantee Medigap issue without medical underwriting mainly during an initial enrollment window or a handful of triggering events. A member who has held an AARP-branded policy for years and later developed a health condition that would complicate switching insurers has limited practical alternatives beyond paying an approved rate or dropping supplemental coverage altogether.
A single state inside a national premium trend
New York’s filing does not stand alone. Medigap premiums have been rising across the country as insurers price in higher medical costs and an aging pool of policyholders. More than 12 million people, or roughly 43 percent of everyone in traditional Medicare, carry a Medigap policy nationally, and reported increases on the popular Plan G in other states have ranged from just over 12 percent to more than 26 percent depending on the insurer and location. New York’s requested range sits inside that broader band.
AARP-branded Medigap plans, administered by UnitedHealthcare under a long-running licensing arrangement with AARP, are among the largest Medigap programs sold in the country, which is part of why a single state’s rate filing carries weight beyond New York: the same insurer routinely files similar requests state by state, on each state’s own regulatory calendar, and the outcome of one filing offers no guarantee about the outcome of another pending elsewhere.
For now the only confirmed numbers are the ones in UnitedHealthcare’s own filing: a request, not an approval, for increases of 11.6 percent to 13.5 percent on standardized AARP Medigap plans covering about 350,000 New Yorkers, effective January 1, 2027, pending action by the state’s financial regulator.
A premium request without a household comparison
UnitedHealthcare’s request to raise standardized AARP Medigap premiums by as much as 13.5 percent in New York leaves a gap the state’s review does not close: a member weighing whether to keep a pricier Medigap policy, switch plans, or lean on a state cost-help program has to compare separate systems with separate application forms, and the rate filing itself lists none of them.
The Medicare Cost & Coverage Protection Kit organizes New York’s own state cost-help pack alongside the kit’s medication and cost tracker, so a Medigap-drawing household can weigh a proposed premium increase against the assistance programs and drug costs it might work around.
Compare the New York cost-help pack against a rising Medigap premium in The Medicare Cost & Coverage Protection Kit.
This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of AI and reviewed by The Money Overview editorial team.
