Every fall, your mailbox fills up with promises.
One envelope swears you'll get dental, vision, and groceries on a $0 premium.
Another warns that if you don't buy a Medigap plan now, you'll regret it forever.
Both sides are selling something, and neither is doing it for free.
Medicare Advantage is run by private insurers who receive a fixed payment per member from the federal government.
That flat fee creates a real incentive to manage your care tightly — prior authorizations, narrow networks, and denials that you then have to appeal.
A 2023 federal report found some plans denied requests that met their own coverage criteria.
Original Medicare plus a supplement works differently.
You pay a monthly premium to a private insurer, and in exchange it picks up most of the costs Medicare leaves behind.
See any doctor in the country who accepts Medicare.
That freedom is exactly what you're paying for.
The catch is the price tag, and it climbs with age.
A Plan G supplement can run $130 to $200 a month for a 65-year-old, and premiums often rise as you get older.
Add the standard Part B premium, and you're looking at real money every single month, whether you use the coverage or not.
Many carry a $0 premium beyond Part B, which sounds unbeatable until you read the out-of-pocket maximum.
In 2024, that cap can hit $8,850 for in-network care, and higher if you go out of network.
A rough hospital stay or a cancer diagnosis can push you toward that ceiling fast.
The "free" plan isn't free — the cost just arrives later.
Then there's the trap nobody mentions at the kitchen table: switching back.
In most states, after your first year on Advantage, you can be medically underwritten if you want a supplement.
A cancer history or a heart condition can get you denied outright.
Choose Advantage at 65 and develop a problem at 70, and you may be locked out of the very option you now want.
Insurance brokers earn commissions on both products, often more on Advantage.
Plans advertise heavily because enrollment equals revenue.
Even the "free" comparison websites are lead generators.
Nobody in that chain gets paid when you sit down and read the actual plan documents.
Start with your real medical history and your real budget, not the brochure.
If you can afford the premium and want predictable costs plus nationwide access, a supplement is the simpler machine.
If the premium is genuinely out of reach, an Advantage plan beats going bare — but check the network, the drug formulary, and the out-of-pocket cap before you sign.
And whatever you do, don't decide in a 20-minute phone call with someone who called you first.
The uncomfortable truth is that both products exist to make money, and the marketing exists to keep you from doing the math.
The people who come out ahead aren't the ones who got the best pitch — they're the ones who read the fine print while everyone else was watching the commercial.
Final Thoughts
Treat every "free" claim as a question, and ask who's paying for it.