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Gen Re is pleased to present this summary of key highlights from our 2025/2026 U.S. Medicare Supplement Market Survey. The full report covers Medicare Supplement (Med Supp) results and market trends for 2025, capturing sales and inforce data, business performance, rate increase activity, underwriting tools and practices, claim metrics, and compensation and distribution details. The comprehensive report is available to participating companies only.
Forty-six questionnaires were completed, representing 96 companies with Med Supp business. Throughout this report, the results are based on the analysis of the 46 completed surveys. Depending on the type of question, not all companies were eligible to provide a response. To aid in your review, the number of respondents is displayed as “R=.” When reviewing the results please note that participants may vary from year to year.
Participating companies were segmented by whether they reported open and/or closed blocks of Med Supp business. “Open blocks” refer to blocks of business that accepted new applications in 2025. Twenty companies (43%) manage both open and closed blocks. Four companies (9%) manage only open blocks and 22 (48%) manage only closed blocks.
|
|
Percentage |
|---|---|
|
Both open and closed blocks |
43% |
|
Open blocks only |
9% |
|
Closed blocks only |
48% |
Participating companies reported $17.8 billion in Medicare Supplement inforce premium for 2025, an 11% increase over 2024. Growth varied by block status: inforce premium rose 17% for open blocks and 4% for closed blocks. Open blocks represent 59% of total inforce premium and 66% of covered lives. Total covered lives exceeded 6.3 million in 2025, up 5% from the prior year.
|
|
Premium |
Lives |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
2024 |
2025 |
% Change |
2024 |
2025 |
% Change |
|
Open Blocks |
$8,900,654,463 |
$10,413,006,262 |
17.0% |
3,791,174 |
4,172,440 |
10.1% |
|
Closed Blocks |
$7,083,232,306 |
$7,359,179,080 |
3.9% |
2,209,491 |
2,148,193 |
-2.8% |
|
Total inforce |
$15,983,886,769 |
$17,772,185,342 |
11.2% |
6,000,665 |
6,320,633 |
5.3% |
Premium & Lives: Open blocks R=24; Closed blocks R=42; Total inforce R=46
Overall, 2010 standardized plans represent 92% of the total premium inforce (open and closed blocks combined). Pre-standardized and 1992 standardized plans combined account for about 8% of the total premium in 2025.
In 2025, companies reported more than $1.9 billion of Medicare Supplement new sales premium, representing a 39% ($542 million) increase from 2024. The number of new lives covered also grew significantly, rising 32% to more than 1 million.
|
|
2024 |
2025 |
% Change |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Premium |
$1,381,421,978 |
$1,923,448,129 |
39.2% |
|
Lives |
779,181 |
1,025,517 |
31.6% |
Premium & Lives: R=23
Plan G accounts for 71% of new sales premium and 68% of new lives covered for 2025. Although most companies (92%) also sold Plan N, it represents 11% of new sales premium and 13% of new lives covered.
Policyholders aged 65 represent more than one-third of new sales premium and new lives in 2025, while those aged 66‒70 represent about a quarter.
On average, open enrollment applications account for 51% of new sales premium and 55% of covered lives in 2025. Underwritten applications account for just under 25% of new premium and lives. On a combined basis, guaranteed issue applications represent 25% of new sales premium and 22% of new lives.
|
Application Type |
Premium |
Lives |
|---|---|---|
|
Open Enrollment |
51% |
55% |
|
Guaranteed Issue (Federal rules) |
15% |
13% |
|
Guaranteed Issue (Birthday / State rules) |
10% |
9% |
|
Underwritten |
24% |
23% |
Premium & Lives: R=20
This year’s survey reflects one of the strongest growth periods we’ve seen in the Medicare Supplement market. With $1.9 billion in new sales, continued growth in open blocks, and widespread adoption of electronic applications, carriers are successfully meeting the needs of a growing Medicare population while improving the customer experience.
If you have any questions about our summary report, please reach out – or let us know if you’d like to participate in next year’s industry survey. Stay tuned for upcoming articles with highlights from our survey’s other sections including Underwriting, Claims and Distribution. Business Performance Results will be out next!
