A Medigap application outside a protected window generally comes with health questions, and the answers can decide whether a policy is issued and at what price. The questions themselves vary by insurer and are not standardised the way the benefits are. What IS worth knowing in advance is when they may be asked at all, because inside certain windows they may not be.
The windows where the questions do not apply
A person has a one-time Medigap open enrolment window beginning when they are both sixty-five and enrolled in Part B, and inside it an insurer must issue regardless of health. Separately, federal guaranteed issue rights arise from particular events, and inside those an insurer must also issue without using health against the applicant. Outside both, in most states, the questionnaire is the insurer's to ask and the decision is theirs to make.
What the questions are typically about
They are not standardised, but they follow a recognisable shape: recent hospital admissions, planned procedures, current treatment for certain conditions, and use of particular equipment or medication. Insurers differ in what they ask and in how they treat the answers, which is why an applicant declined by one is not necessarily declined by another. This site quotes no insurer's questionnaire, because none of them publishes one it is bound to.
The state answer matters more than the insurer answer
A handful of states require insurers to issue supplements more freely than federal law does, whether continuously, in a window around a birthday, or on a policy anniversary. Where those rules exist the health questions largely stop mattering, and where they do not the questionnaire is the gate. Confirming which applies is a question for the state insurance department, and the free counselling service in every state will do it with you.
Questions people ask about medicare supplement underwriting eligibility questions
Can a Medigap insurer refuse me because of my health?
Outside your one-time open enrolment window and outside a guaranteed issue right, in most states, yes. Inside either, no.
Are the questions the same at every insurer?
No. Unlike the benefits, the underwriting questions are not standardised, and insurers treat answers differently.
Does this apply to Medicare Advantage too?
No. Medicare Advantage plans generally may not screen applicants on health during the enrolment windows.
How do I find out my state's rule?
Your state insurance department, or the free State Health Insurance Assistance Program, which is not paid on what you choose.