Open enrollment runs through December 7, and roughly 34 million Americans are sitting in Medicare Advantage plans.
Many of them will never compare what a supplement would cost until it's too late to switch without a medical review.
The gap between the two options is not small.
It's the difference between a predictable monthly bill and a year of copays that can spiral past $7,000 if cancer or a stroke lands in the wrong quarter.
Here is what the marketing brochures leave out. **Advantage plans cap your worst case, but the cap is high.** Every Medicare Advantage plan has an in-network out-of-pocket maximum, and in 2025 those limits legally run as high as $9,350 for in-network care.
Many PPO plans charge more for out-of-network providers.
Add dental, vision, and hearing extras that look generous on the flyer, and the premium can be $0 — which is exactly why the plan sells itself. **Medigap makes the math boring, which is the point.** A Medicare Supplement Plan G pays the 20% that Original Medicare leaves behind, after you cover the roughly $257 Part B deductible.
Your premium might run $120 to $200 a month depending on age and state.
In exchange, a hospital stay or a round of chemotherapy produces a bill close to zero instead of a five-figure surprise.
In most states, you can buy a Medigap policy without answering health questions only during a six-month window that starts when you first enroll in Part B at 65.
Miss it, and insurers can charge you more or reject you outright for a history of diabetes, heart disease, or cancer.
Advantage plans, by contrast, must accept you during open enrollment regardless of health.
That asymmetry is why agents push Advantage.
It's also why people who develop serious illness often find themselves stuck.
Insurers have been trimming extra benefits — dental allowances, over-the-counter card balances, fitness perks — as utilization climbs and federal payment rates tighten.
A plan that looked rich in 2023 may look thinner in 2026.
First, can you absorb a $6,000-plus bad year without touching retirement savings?
If not, Medigap's premium is insurance against your own balance sheet.
Second, do you have doctors you refuse to leave?
Advantage networks change every January, and specialists can drop out mid-treatment.
Third, are you willing to shop every fall?
Advantage plans reward the diligent and punish the passive.
One more number to keep in mind: the average Medicare Advantage enrollee uses a fraction of the extra benefits advertised, while roughly half of all beneficiaries live on incomes under $36,000.
For that household, a $180 monthly supplement premium is a real sacrifice — and it still may be cheaper than one hospitalization.
Pull your current drug list, call your doctors to confirm they're in-network for 2026, and price a Plan G in your ZIP code.
Fifteen minutes of math beats a year of guessing.
The uncomfortable truth is that Medicare Advantage isn't cheaper — it just moves the cost from a bill you see every month to one you might see in an emergency room.
If you can afford predictability, buy it.
Final Thoughts
If you can't, at least go in knowing exactly where the cliff is.