Where do the standards for Medicare Supplement (Medigap) insurance originate?
Before 1990, Medigap insurance policies were not standardized in many states. This made it hard for people to compare how one plan or another filled the various gaps in Medicare coverage. Through the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1990, Congress directed the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to develop a model law and regulation that required all Medigap insurers to offer a standardized core plan (known as plan A) and that allowed companies to sell up to nine additional standard plans (Plans B – J). The Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003 added plans K and L to the array of standard plans, effective on January 1, 2006. Except for policies sold in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, the NAIC model for 10 standard plans applied to all Medigap policies sold after November 5, 1991. The NAIC now refers to these plans as 1990 plans to distinguish them from the 2010 plans that will conform to revised standards that take effect on June 1, 2010. Why i
