Aging Energized Articles

Medicare Advantage vs. Medigap. There are actually three choices to contemplate but this quickly resolves down to these two primary choices.

When you sign for Medicare at age 65, you first sign up for Part A (hospital insurance) and Part B (outpatient and physician insurance). For most people Part A is free and Part B is reasonably priced at $144.60 per month in 2020. You could stop here with this basic coverage and not purchase any additional health insurance. This is not advised, but you could.

The three choices to contemplate are:

1. Sign up for Original Medicare (Part A and Part B) only and do not sign up for additional supplement coverage.
2. Sign up for Original Medicare and also sign up for a Medicare Advantage Plan.
3. Sign up for Original Medicare and also sign up for a Medigap Plan and a Part D prescription drug plan.

We don't advise that you choose option 1, original Medicare with no additional supplement coverage. Why? Because the out-of-pocket expenses, at 20% of total...