Ohio Medigap: Open Enrollment, Under 65 and Guaranteed Issue (2026)

You get one six-month window in Ohio to buy a Medigap policy without an insurer using your health against you. Ohio Medigap open enrollment starts the first month you are both 65 and enrolled in Medicare Part B, and it does not repeat. During Ohio's Medigap open enrollment window, Ohio Administrative Code Rule 3901-8-08 bars an insurer from denying a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) policy or charging more because of your health, and each policy the insurer has available must be offered to you.1 After the Ohio window closes, a Medigap insurer may turn you down under its medical underwriting unless you have a guaranteed-issue right, and Ohioans under 65 with Medicare because of a disability do not get the window until they turn 65.1

In This Guide

• Your One-Time Ohio Medigap Open Enrollment Window
• Pre-Existing Conditions During Ohio Open Enrollment
• Ohio Medigap Under 65: Disability and ESRD
• Ohio Medigap Guaranteed-Issue Rights
• Which Plans You Can Get With a Guaranteed-Issue Right
• Which Medicare Supplement Plans Ohio Allows
• Ohio Medigap at a Glance
• Where to Get Free Medigap Help in Ohio
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

Your One-Time Ohio Medigap Open Enrollment Window

Ohio's Medigap open enrollment period is set by paragraph (N)(1) of OAC 3901-8-08. The six-month period begins with the first day of the first month in which you are both 65 or older and enrolled in Medicare Part B.1

If your Ohio Medigap application is submitted before or during the six-month open enrollment period, OAC 3901-8-08(N)(1) says the insurer may not:

• deny or condition the issuance or effectiveness of any Medigap policy it has available for sale in Ohio;
• discriminate in the policy's price because of your health status, including tobacco or nicotine use, your claims experience, your receipt of health care, or a medical condition.

Under OAC 3901-8-08, each Medigap policy an Ohio insurer currently has available must be made available to open enrollment applicants who qualify.1

Ohio's Medigap open enrollment window happens once. Medicare's March 2026 guide Choosing a Medigap Policy calls the six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period a one-time enrollment period that does not repeat every year. Medicare's March 2026 guide Choosing a Medigap Policy also warns that outside the Medigap Open Enrollment Period, there is no guarantee an insurance company will sell you a policy if you don't meet its medical underwriting requirements, and it may deny you a policy unless you have a guaranteed-issue right.1

Because the Ohio window is keyed to Part B, the start month moves if Part B does. An Ohioan who turns 65 but enrolls in Part B later has an open enrollment period that begins the first month both conditions are true.1

For the federal version of the same window, see Brevy's guide to the Medigap open enrollment period.

Pre-Existing Conditions During Ohio Open Enrollment

Getting a Medigap policy issued in Ohio open enrollment and getting a pre-existing condition covered from day one are separate questions. OAC 3901-8-08 answers the pre-existing condition question with a creditable-coverage test.1

• At least six months of continuous creditable coverage: under OAC 3901-8-08(N)(2)(a), an Ohio open enrollment applicant who, as of the application date, has had at least six months of continuous creditable coverage may not have Medigap benefits excluded because of a pre-existing condition.
• Otherwise: except as the rule provides in paragraphs (N)(2), (O) and (Z), OAC 3901-8-08(N)(3) does not prevent an Ohio Medigap policy from excluding benefits, during its first six months, for a pre-existing condition that was treated or diagnosed during the six months before the coverage took effect.1

How much of the Ohio six-month pre-existing condition exclusion can apply to you depends on your prior coverage and the rule's exceptions, so ask the insurer, or a counselor at the Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program (OSHIIP), how your prior coverage counts before you buy. Brevy's guide to Medigap and pre-existing conditions explains the federal framework.

Ohio Medigap Under 65: Disability and ESRD

Ohio's Medigap open enrollment rule is tied to age. OAC 3901-8-08(N)(1) opens the Ohio window only with the first day of the first month in which a person is both 65 or older and enrolled in Medicare Part B.1

For Ohioans who have Medicare because of a disability, OAC 3901-8-08(R)(4)(b)(iv) permits, but does not require, a Medigap insurer, with the superintendent's approval, to offer an additional policy form of the same standard plan for people eligible for Medicare by reason of disability.1

Medicare's March 2026 guide Choosing a Medigap Policy says a person under 65 with Medicare because of a disability or end-stage renal disease (ESRD) might not be able to buy the Medigap policy they want, or any Medigap policy, until they turn 65. Medicare's March 2026 guide also says federal law generally doesn't require insurance companies to sell Medigap policies to people under 65, and it lists the states that, at the time of printing, require insurers to offer at least one kind of Medigap policy to people with Medicare under 65. Ohio does not appear on the list, in Medicare's March 2026 guide Choosing a Medigap Policy, of states that require insurers to offer at least one kind of Medigap policy to people with Medicare under 65.1

Medicare's March 2026 guide adds that some insurance companies may voluntarily sell Medigap policies to people under 65, though such voluntary under-65 policies will probably cost more and probably use medical underwriting.1

Two things still work in an under-65 Ohioan's favor:

• Open enrollment at 65. Medicare's guide says a person who already has Part B still gets a Medigap Open Enrollment Period on turning 65, when insurers can't refuse to sell any Medigap policy because of a disability or other health problem, or charge a higher premium based on health than they charge other people who are 65.1
• Guaranteed-issue rights that aren't age-limited. OAC 3901-8-08(O) defines guaranteed-issue eligible persons by circumstance rather than age. Of the Ohio guaranteed-issue triggers in OAC 3901-8-08(O)(2), only the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) part of the Medicare Advantage trigger (65 or older) and the first-year trial right (for people who first became eligible for Medicare Part A at 65 or older) carry an age condition.1

Ohio Medigap Guaranteed-Issue Rights

An Ohio Medigap guaranteed-issue right comes from OAC 3901-8-08(O). For an eligible person, an Ohio insurer may not deny or condition the issuance or effectiveness of a covered Medigap policy it offers and has available to new enrollees, may not charge more because of health status (including tobacco or nicotine use), claims experience, receipt of health care or a medical condition, and may not impose a pre-existing condition exclusion.1

Eligible persons under OAC 3901-8-08(O)(2) include:

• (a) Employer or Medicaid supplement ends. Your employee welfare benefit plan, or your state Medicaid plan, that supplements Medicare terminates or stops providing all such supplemental benefits; or your employer plan that is primary to Medicare terminates or stops providing all health benefits because you leave the plan.
• (b) Medicare Advantage plan ends. Your Medicare Advantage organization's or plan's certification is terminated, or the organization terminates or discontinues the plan in the area where you live.
• (d) Medigap coverage ends involuntarily. Your Medigap enrollment ends because the insurer becomes insolvent or bankrupt, or through another involuntary termination.
• (f) First-year trial right. On first becoming eligible for Medicare Part A at 65 or older, you enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan or with a PACE provider, and you disenroll no later than 12 months after the enrollment took effect.1

The Ohio guaranteed-issue window is short. For a person who disenrolls voluntarily in the situations in OAC 3901-8-08(O)(2)(b), (d)(ii), (d)(iii), (e) or (f), which include a Medicare Advantage plan whose certification is terminated or that is discontinued in your area under (b) and the first-year trial right under (f), OAC 3901-8-08 sets the guaranteed-issue period at 60 days before to 63 days after the disenrollment's effective date. Medicare's March 2026 guide, describing federal law, gives a deadline of no more than 63 days after a Medigap policy ends when an insurer goes bankrupt or coverage ends through no fault of your own.1

Medicare's guide also says a person buying a Medigap policy with a guaranteed-issue right must have all pre-existing conditions covered without a waiting period, and that you may have additional rights under state law. This Brevy guide does not give the Ohio guaranteed-issue deadline for an employer or Medicaid supplement ending, so confirm that deadline with OSHIIP as soon as you receive notice that your coverage is ending.1 Brevy's national guide to Medigap guaranteed issue rights covers the federal triggers in more depth.

Which Plans You Can Get With a Guaranteed-Issue Right

For the Ohio first-year trial right in (O)(2)(f), OAC 3901-8-08(O)(5) entitles you to any Medigap policy offered by any insurer.1

For the other Ohio guaranteed-issue situations, the plan list is limited. Ohio's rule text (effective May 1, 2023) and Medicare's March 2026 federal guide give different lists of Medigap plan letters for the other guaranteed-issue situations, and both lists include Plans A and B, so neither list alone should be read as the complete set available to you in Ohio.1 Before you apply, confirm the full list of plan letters available to you with OSHIIP or the Ohio Department of Insurance.

Which Medicare Supplement Plans Ohio Allows

Ohio allows only standardized Medicare Supplement plans. OAC 3901-8-08(K)(3) says no groups, packages or combinations of Medigap benefits other than the standardized plans listed in the rule may be offered for sale in Ohio, except for approved new or innovative benefits under (K)(7), which may not be used to change or reduce benefits in any standardized plan, and Medicare SELECT policies under (M).1

• Same letter, same benefits. Medicare's March 2026 guide says standardized plans in most states are named by the letters A through D, F, G and K through N, that all plans with the same letter offer the same basic benefits no matter where you live or which company sells it, and that price is the only difference between same-letter policies from different companies.
• Plan A is always offered. Under OAC 3901-8-08(K)(1), every Ohio Medigap insurer must make available a policy form containing only the basic (core) benefits, which is what standardized Plan A includes.
• Plans C and F are closed to people new to Medicare since 2020. Under OAC 3901-8-08(L)(1)(c), Plans C, F and high-deductible F may not be offered in Ohio to people newly eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020. Medicare's guide says people newly eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020 have the right to buy Plans D and G instead, which give the same benefits as Plans C and F but don't cover the Part B deductible.
• Medicare SELECT. A Medicare SELECT policy in Ohio contains a restricted network provision, meaning it conditions the payment of benefits, in whole or in part, on using network providers.
• 30-day free look. Every Ohio Medigap policy must carry a notice that you may return it within 30 days of delivery and have the premium refunded if, after examining it, you are not satisfied for any reason.1

To weigh the two most-compared letters, see Brevy's Plan G vs Plan N comparison, and for how insurers set prices, how Medigap premiums are priced.

Ohio Medigap at a Glance

The table below summarizes how OAC 3901-8-08 and Medicare's March 2026 guide treat each Ohio Medigap situation.1

Where to Get Free Medigap Help in Ohio

The Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program (OSHIIP) is Ohio's free Medicare counseling service. The Ohio Department of Insurance's Medicare page describes OSHIIP as offering free, objective Medicare health insurance information and one-on-one counseling, and invites Ohioans to get information about Medicare, schedule one-on-one counseling, and attend online webinars. Medicare's March 2026 guide tells people who need help comparing and choosing a Medigap policy to call their State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP).1

Ask an OSHIIP counselor which plan letters your guaranteed-issue right reaches and how your prior coverage counts toward a pre-existing condition waiting period. For the rest of Ohio's Medicare choices, including Medicare Advantage and Part D, see Brevy's guide to Medicare plans and coverage in Ohio.

Learn More

Find personalized help comparing Medigap options in Ohio at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.