They pay for what Medicare does not.

Yes you get more coverage yes it is private insurance.

Without you have to pay out of pocket what Medicare does not pay.

I have Medicare part A hospital coverage. We all pay for it through psyroll deductions,

I have Medicare part B doctor coverage

I have part D drug coverage

I have a supliimental insurance plan that pays for what the others don’t.

I pay around $450 a month

I pay no copays or drug costs

My Medicare advantage plan is $70/month and includes some dental coverage.

For most Medicare beneficiaries, that's $340 a month. Add in the $70 for your Advantage Plan and you're paying $410 a month yourself.

What I pay $450 for is all my Medicare plus advantage.

A person should never have both of these, I think the rules expressly forbid it. One is paying twice for mostly the same thing.

As for "nothing is wrong with advantage plans" -- there is -- networks.

and the link takes me to Plan Finder which helps find Medicare Advantage (M.A.) and Part D Drug plans.

What that leaves out is Medicare Supplement aka Medigap plans. (For some reason they don't use the word "plan" for these). I prefer Medigap because, though more expensive than M.A., it allows me to see any doctor / hospital that accepts Medicare. So I don't have to sweat all the many many many horror stories about surprise bills from providers out of network. E.g. you check and make sure the hospital is in network and the surgeon is in network, but then the fucking lab or radiologist or anesthesiologist is out of network and you get a bill from them that your insurance doesn't cover or only partially.

No thanks. Don't want to play that RW greedbanger game of "healthy free enterprise gotcha competition" between groups of narrow networks. But I'm afraid that they will keep steering people towards M.A. and away from Medigap, until Medigap is no longer an option for people, and we all have to sweat the Out Of Network Nightmare.

And people talk about "Medicare For All" like its some kind of promised land. Little do they know. (Although I would guess that the so-called "Medicare for All" legislation proposals don't have all the bullshit and complexity that real Medicare does).

Google: Consumer Reports Surprise Medical Bills

or just: Surprise Medical Bills.

Full disclosure: Medigap plans are all private plans, just like M.A. The key difference is no networks vs. networks.

People should know that they need one or the other: M.A. or Medigap. And a drug plan (part of most M.A. plans, but not all. Never part of a Medigap plan).

Just having so called "original Medicare", i.e. Part A and Part B, is a riverboat gambler gamble, since Part B only pays 80%. 20% of a major surgery is too much for most fixed-income seniors to gamble having to pay. (There is no out-of-pocket maximums in either A or B). And Part A (hospital coverage) has limitations.

Last edited Sat Dec 1, 2018, 11:25 PM - Edit history (2)

I have a Medigap policy, and I strongly prefer it over M.A. because in Medigap, you can see any provider that accepts Medicare assignment. Whereas all M.A. plans have networks (Google: Surprise Medical Bills). But I thought people should know some of the drawbacks and cautionary notes about Medigap.

One may not be able to buy a Medigap plan, or may end up paying a much higher premium, if one does not buy a Medigap plan within the first 6 months of becoming 65 and enrolled in Part B. There's are some exceptions for those who are in their first year of M.A. coverage and/or getting insurance through their employer, but otherwise, fuggit about getting Medigap without having to undergo a medical exam and paying premiums based on the result of that (or not finding a Medigap plan that will accept you).

Another problem with Medigap -- you can't switch to another Medigap plan, even with the same insurer -- without undergoing medical underwriting (and perhaps paying a higher premium or not allowed to switch as a result of your medical history). So you're kind of stuck with it for life if you want to continue to keep the no networks advantage of Medigap.

Another issue: Medigap plans never come with dental or vision benefits. M.A. plans often do.

They are more expensive than equivalent M.A. plans. That's because you are paying for Medigap's no-networks feature.

Another sucky feature of Medigap: You end up carrying 3 cards:

# Your Medicare card (Part A and Part B)
# Your Medigap card
# Your drug plan card (No Medigap plan comes with a drug plan, you have to buy Part D drug plan separately)

Its my understanding that if you instead have a Medicare Advantage (M.A.) plan, that's usually one card (if it comes with a drug benefit that most M.A. plans do if I remember what I read correctly).

And like M.A., Medigap is private insurance. UnitedHealthcare, for example, sells both M.A. and Medigap policies. There are no government Medigap policies, and there are no government M.A. policies. They all come from private health insurance companies.