✅ Medicare Advantage vs Medigap - Which to Choose? - YouTube

if you're getting ready to come into Medicare  you're either turning 65 or you're about to retire  

and come off your group plan you've got lots of  decisions to make and they can be very daunting  

it's super important that you get them right so  we want to make sure we understand exactly what  

our choices are one of the first big decisions you  have when you come in is do you go on a Medicare  

Advantage plan or do you stay with Original  Medicare and having Medicare supplement plan to  

go along with it well almost show you exactly how  they both work so this will make it much easier  

for you to make that tough decision so stay tuned  No okay so let's understand the difference between  

Medicare Advantage and Medigap also called  Medicare supplement so they try and confuse  

us right off the bat by calling the same thing by  different names a Medigap and Medicare supplement  

plan are exactly the same thing so there's just  different names for the same thing so we're going  

to talk about the differences and I'm Keith  Armbrecht I'm founder of Medicare on video and  

I help people across the country make the right  Medicare choices and I can absolutely help you as  

well so we want to make sure we understand this  one because this might be the biggest decision  

we make coming into Medicare so we don't want  to mess this up one thing I would ask of you  

is if you find this video helpful subscribe to  my channel and it'll give you access to all my  

videos and then you'll get updates as they come  along and it also helps you to understand that  

it's valuable and that they put it in front of  more people that need to see it so let's talk  

about the difference between Medicare Advantage  and Medigap so when you come into Medicare for  

the first time this is the road you're on you're  gonna choose either to stay on Original Medicare  

and if you stay on Original Medicare you'll  probably have a Medigap or Medicare supplement  

plan to go with it or you're gonna choose to go on  Medicare Advantage so Medicare Advantage kind of  

takes you away from Medicare and put you in the  custody of an insurance care so it's a private  

insurance plan is what Medicare Advantage is  so we're gonna understand the differences and  

how they work in full disclosure I help people  with Medicare supplement plans I get across the  

country I choose not to sell Medicare Advantage  plans for a number of different reasons and I'm  

gonna go through a few of them here but I'm gonna  give you a clear picture on both of them so that  

you understand exactly what your choices and then  that way when you make your decision you can be  

comfortable that you made the right call so it's  it's pretty easy to do and right now across the  

country it's about 60/40 so about 64 60 percent  of people are on Medicare supplement and forty  

percent of people are on Medicare Advantage  so it's a pretty healthy population on both  

sides so let's make sure we understand how they  function so again they medicate the Medigap plan  

is also a Medicare supplement plan it's exactly  the same thing just a different name so when we  

look at the differences here between Medicare  Advantage Medicare supplement let's start with  

Medicare Part A and Part B so you have Original  Medicare and if you watch my other videos I go  

into detail obviously on Part A and Part B and  how it all works but Medicare Part A and Part  

B kind of the foundation of Medicare if you  go on a Medicare Advantage plan your Medicare  

Advantage plan takes the place of Medicare Part  A and Part B if you are on a Medicare supplement  

or Medigap plan your supplement is going to pay  what a and B do not for the most part there'll  

be small deductibles and things like that which  we can get into the details on G or n or al for  

whatever Medicare supplement plan we're talking  about but that's kind of how it works so it's  

either going with a private insurance carrier that  takes kind of the place of Original Medicare or  

supplementing Original Medicare so gives you  much better coverage on Original Medicare so  

prescription drug coverage most Medicare Advantage  plans include prescription drug coverage in their  

plan so it's kind of an all-in-one package which  can make it a little bit easier this would be one  

of the reasons that I would recommend somebody  going into a Medicare Advantage plans if you  

take complicated prescription medications you may  find better coverage any Medicare Advantage plan  

then you would on a Medicare drug plan so if you  have a Medicare supplement or Medigap plan you  

would purchase a Medicare drug plan separately  so it's it's a separate piece than the Medicare  

supplements not super expensive it runs on  average about $25 a month or somewhere around  

there but it's just kind of how it functions so  sometimes certain Medicare Advantage plans may  

cover complicated drugs better than a standalone  Medicare drug plan so that's something that if  

you are in that scenario we need to look at very  closely to see which would work better in your  

situation now here's a big part of the difference  between Medicare Advantage and Medicare supplement  

choice of doctors and hospitals that is by far  the biggest difference in these two scenarios on  

a Medicare Advantage plan you typically will have  a network of doctors at a network of hospitals and  

you have to stay within that network of doctors  and network of hospitals some plans do have how  

to network benefits but a lot of times the  the cost or the out-of-pocket expense makes  

it prohibitive makes it much too expensive to use  that it networks you still have to stay in them on  

Medicare supplement plans you can go to any doctor  any hospital in the country so it doesn't matter  

where you live you can go across the country to a  hospital if you want to where a doctor across the  

country if you want to without any limitations as  long as they take Medicare you can get any doctor  

any hospital so that's the primary reason that I  believe Medicare supplement easily outweighs of  

Medicare Advantage plan gives you the freedom the  flexibility to make your own decisions so that you  

don't have to ask permission from an insurance  company on whether or not you can go here or go  

there if you want to go to Mayo Clinic you can go  to Mayo Clinic if you want to go to Jackson you go  

to Jackie you can go anywhere in the country that  accepts medicare under a medicare supplement plan  

so that's a big big differentiator right there  now when you have monthly calls and this is kind  

of hard to figure because right now we're in  Medicare open enrollment so every end of the  

year mid October to mid-december is Medicare  open enrollment period and you see just it's  

really the only commercials you'll see on TV or  for Medicare Advantage plans talking about how  

zero premium and how low cost and everything that  goes along with them and just kind of understand  

they are obviously hard marketing their Medicare  Advantage plans because they obviously want you as  

a customer and a lot of Medicare Advantage plans  if they have super low premiums some of them even  

give you money back it's very much again what you  pay for and your restrictions will be tighter the  

lower your cost is so if you have a zero premium  plan you very well may have a much smaller choice  

of doctors hospitals things of that nature monthly  cost for your Medicare supplement plan not crazy  

it can run from as low even lower $50.00 a month  you know really not more than 200 some places  

in the country are more expensive than others  but we'll find something that is certainly very  

reasonable generally great coverage for around  $100 a month mark sometimes a little bit more  

sometimes a little bit less just depends on again  what part of the country you're in and how the  

pricing is in your zip code so something we can do  very easily and again I'm here to help with any of  

this stuff we will figure out exactly which is the  best one for you and then we have how to pocket  

cost so with the Medicare Advantage plan it's  more of a of a pay-as-you-go so it has a lower  

monthly premium likely but a higher out-of-pocket  cost when you use it so and a lot of people get  

surprised by the out-of-pocket cost when you use  it for instance a lot of Medicare Advantage plans  

have a maximum out-of-pocket of about $6,000 for  a year where a supplement might be a few hundred  

dollars so it's a huge difference when you go to  use it so a lot of people will love their Medicare  

Advantage plans have you used it well no and  once you start using it then you see that's where  

you're gonna end up having some out-of-pocket  expenses and things of that nature so you  

have limited Network higher out-of-pocket costs  generally than you do on a medicare supplement  

paperwork on Medicare Advantage if you are at a  lower cost one you likely will need a referral to  

go from a primary care to a specialist that's the  number one gripe but just about anybody is to have  

to go if you need to go see a specialist you have  to go first to your primary make an appointment  

see the doctor get a referral then make an  appointment go to the specialist and it just  

can take weeks to do it and it's just crazy the  restriction there so keep that in mind and make  

sure if you're gonna join a Medicare Advantage  plan know if you need referrals know if you  

don't need referrals Medicare supplement plan you  pretty much do what you like so you make any call  

you want you can get any doctor any specialist any  hospital you don't have to ask for permission and  

with a supplement plan there's no customer service  so it's run directly parallel to Medicare so  

medicare covers it the supplement has to cover  it so you don't ever have to ask permission and  

I can only tell you from personal experience I  have literally thousands of clients on Medicare  

supplement plans and I did have a customer service  call about two weeks ago so I had somebody call me  

which is super rare as a customer service call and  his issue was that he lost his ID card so he lost  

his Medicare supplement card you wanted to know  how'd he get it know so that was the gist of the  

customer service then he called me back said  he found this ID card so there you go problem  

solved super easy and that is generally how it  works with a Medicare supplement if you google  

Medicare Advantage reviews you'll see all sorts  of complicated scenarios and horror stories and  

things of that nature it just doesn't happen under  Medicare supplements with Original Medicare so  

that's why I choose not to offer or sell Medicare  Advantage plans and I easily can but I just don't  

need the headaches and the the constant customer  service issues that arise so I'm super happy on  

Medicare supplement coverage and helping people  really accomplish everything that they want  

because it actually works super good so those are  the main differences between and again if you find  

this video helpful just click Subscribe you'll  always have access to it you'll have access to all  

my other videos and it helps me to tell YouTube  that you know a lot of people would benefit from  

this information so and I'd be happy to help with  any of this my website Medicare on video comm you  

can get an immediate quote on a supplement plan  so you can find out exactly what it would cost  

in your zip code super easy to do and I have  a tremendous amount of information there my  

video library and well over a hundred videos on  just about every topic of Medicare I also have  

a Resource Center that has all the guides and  the forms that you need so if there's something  

that you need like an employer coverage form if  you're retiring from work you're going to need an  

employer coverage form you can download it around  my website makes it easy to get exactly what you  

need so feel free to use my website for anything  that you find helpful and if there's anything I  

can do just give me a call send me an email fill  out a quote request and we'll get back to you  

super quick so I hope you found this helpful I  hope subscribe and have a fantastic day Medicare