Call (951) 768-5398 to speak with a licensed insurance agent.

Call (951) 768-5398 to speak with a licensed insurance agent.

What’s the Difference Between a Medicare Advantage Plan and a Medicare Supplement Plan?

Posted by Darrell Evans, January 22, 2024

When you first enroll in Medicare, you might find yourself overwhelmed with how many different options you face. Aside from Original Medicare, or Medicare Parts A and B, you can also opt for a Medicare Advantage plan. Or, you can add a Medicare Supplement plan. But what’s the difference, and which types of plans best suit your needs?

There’s no single Medicare path that works best for everyone, but here’s what you need to know about your options.

Choose between Original Medicare or Medicare Advantage. Your first choice will be between Original Medicare or Medicare Advantage. You can either enroll in Medicare Parts A and B, as offered by Medicare itself, or you can choose an Advantage plan which is administered by a private health insurance company.

If you enroll in Original Medicare, you can seek treatment from any provider that accepts Medicare. Most people don’t pay for Part A coverage, and only pay premiums for Part B.

Advantage plans must meet certain standards, but each company will determine a number of factors related to the plan’s network, coverage limits, and more. Many Advantage plans also include Part D coverage, or a prescription drug plan. In exchange for one monthly premium, you can achieve well-rounded coverage (but the plan still might not include everything you want or need).

You can add Medicare Supplement plans to your Original Medicare coverage. Supplement plans, also called Medigap plans, help to cover certain cost-sharing expenses like copayments and deductibles. A Medigap plan can also pay for healthcare services when you travel outside of the country. You can only add a Supplement plan to Original Medicare; they don’t work with Advantage plans.

Supplement plans don’t cover prescription drugs, or other expenses not covered by Medicare such as dental and vision. You should consider additional plans for those services if you want to address that need.

For more information on Medicare Advantage or Supplement (Medigap) plans, give us a call to discuss your options. We can help you determine which path is right for you.

Need more information?

Contact us online to learn more

Contact Us

Close Accessibility Tools
Accessibility Controls Reset
Content Adjustments
Font Size

Default

Line Height

Default

Content Scaling

Default

Highlight Titles
Highlight Links
Highlight Forms
Align Left
Align Center
Align Right
Focus Mode
Color Adjustments
Desaturate
Monochrome
Contrast

Default

Saturation

Default

Accessibility Statement

Despite our attempts to make this website accessible for everyone, there may still be some pages or sections that are not completely accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or do not have a suitable technological solution to make them accessible. Nevertheless, we are always striving to enhance our accessibility by adding, updating, improving its options and features, and incorporating new technologies.

We want to provide our users with the best experience possible, so we strive to support as many browsers and assistive technologies as possible.

If you wish to contact this website's owner, please use the contact form on the website.

Our User Interface Adjustment Options

Font adjustments - With this tool, users can modify font size, style, letter spacing, and line height for improved alignment and readability.

Color adjustments - Users can customize their color contrast profiles to light, dark, desaturated, and monochrome.

Content highlighting - Users can prioritize key elements such as links, forms, and titles.

Content focus - Users can enable focus mode to highlight the current page information based on their mouse movement.

Close