NRLN Survey About Your Healthcare Insurance

The selection of a healthcare provider is an annual chore. This 10-minute survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NRLNHEALTH1 attempts to gather data by Zip Code from all of our NRLN members about your premiums, deductibles, copays and out-of-pocket costs by your plan types for 2025 and for the plans you have chosen for 2026.

This survey will tell us which 2025 Medicare Advantage, Medigap or Prescription Drug plan coverages were and were not terminated by Zip Code for 2026 and whether federal notifications and Guarantee Issue Rights (GIRs) are being honored by company plans and insurance companies.

We will compare 2026 facts from all members surveyed with those where terminations forced some to find another but more expensive plan because they were denied a GIR.

In 2025, 1.1 million Medicare Advantage (MA) plan beneficiaries’ plans were terminated / not renewed in their home state or offered in another county or state they moved to. Nearly 400,000 Medicare Supplemental (Medigap) beneficiaries’ plans were terminated in 2025 by sponsoring companies or by Insurance companies. At least 1.6 million MA plan beneficiaries will lose coverage of their current plan for 2026.

Why is a GIR so important? An NRLN member, an IBM retiree and his wife, retired for many years, were using their IBM Healthcare Reimbursement Accounts (HRA) to pay Medigap plan premiums. IBM froze their accounts, refusing to reimburse Medigap premiums but did not send them a GIR letter. They had to stay with their current insurance because both have chronic conditions and would not be accepted by another insurer without a GIR. They pay a 2025 combined premium of $651.99 monthly. If IBM had notified them of their GIR as required by federal law, two 2026 Medigap Plan G plans would cost them a combined premium of $300 monthly in North Carolina. Many of us could be next! We will use survey data to force GIR notifications if you lose Medigap or MA plan coverage.  

PLEASE ANSWER QUESTIONS 1-16 ABOUT YOU AND YOUR EXISTING 2025 PLANS. THEN, IF YOU HAD A PLAN TERMINATED OR CANCELLED, YOU WILL BE ASKED ABOUT IT IN THE NEXT THREE QUESTIONS. PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF ANY LETTERS OR NOTIFICATIONS RECEIVED TO nrlnmessage@msn.com. THE LAST FIVE QUESTIONS ASK ABOUT YOUR 2026 SELECTIONS.

CLICK THE FOLLOWING LINK TO ACCESS THE SURVEY AT:

HTTPS://WWW.SURVEYMONKEY.COM/R/NRLNHEALTH1

NRLN members will be sent an email when survey results (no names included) are posted on www.nrln.org.

Bill Kadereit, President

National Retiree Legislative Network