Medicare Advantage or Medigap: what will each really cost?
Compare a Medigap plan plus a drug plan with a Medicare Advantage plan, year by year, healthy and sick. Then check the one deadline that matters more than the money.
Not insurance or medical advice. A simplified model in today's dollars. It leaves out the Part B premium (you pay it either way), drug copays (assumed similar either way), Part B excess charges and travel. Premiums, networks, out-of-pocket limits and state Medigap rules vary; Medicare Advantage plans can change every year. Free, unbiased help: your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP).
Your numbers
Defaults are Elena and Greg from the video. Change anything.
Medigap (Elena)
$80$500
0%8%
Age-rated plans in most states rise as you age (about 2.4% a year from 65 to 75 in national averages), plus inflation.
$0$150
$200$400
Medicare Advantage (Greg)
$0$200
$0$5k
$1,000$9,850 (2027 legal max)
Your health and timeline
65Never
From this age on, the Advantage plan hits its out-of-pocket limit every year.
7095
Your Medigap deadline
Enter it to see when your guaranteed Medigap window closes.
TOTAL COST OVER 20 YEARS, FROM AGE 65
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Medigap + drug plan
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Medicare Advantage
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Worst single year
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Running total, year by year
Medigap + drug planMedicare Advantage
Age
Medigap + drug
Advantage
Advantage ahead by
Advantage ahead by the year illness starts
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Stress test: the 2027 legal maximum
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The deadline that matters more than the money
6Medigap open enrollment: six months starting the month you're 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. Any insurer must sell you any Medigap plan at the standard price, with no health questions.
!After that, in most states Medigap insurers can ask about your health, charge more, or refuse you.
12Trial right: if you join Medicare Advantage when you're first eligible at 65 and leave within 12 months, you can buy Medigap without health questions.
STState rules: a few states (including New York and Connecticut) allow Medigap purchases year-round; some others have yearly windows. Ask your SHIP counselor.
Verdict
Before you choose
1Mark your Medigap open enrollment window.
2Check the Advantage plan's out-of-pocket limit, and make sure you could pay it in a bad year.
3Look up your doctors, hospitals and a major cancer center in the network.
4Ask how prior authorization works for scans, surgery and specialist visits.
5Check your state's Medigap rules and talk to your free SHIP counselor.
Get the deadlines, a plan comparison worksheet and the questions to ask before you enroll.
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Illustrative estimate only, not insurance, medical or financial advice. Medigap yearly cost = 12 × premium (rising each year by the rate you set) + 12 × drug plan premium + the Part B deductible (Plan G). Medicare Advantage yearly cost = 12 × plan premium + healthy-year copays, or the out-of-pocket limit in every year from the illness age on. The Part B premium is left out because you pay it with either choice (projected at about $209.50 a month in 2027; CMS announces it in November). Defaults: Plan G about $220 a month at 65 and $279 at 75 (MoneyGeek national averages, 2026); 2027 Part D base premium $41.33 (CMS); 2027 Part B deductible about $292 (Trustees projection); Advantage limit $5,400, close to the 2026 average of $5,421 (KFF); the 2027 legal maximum is $9,850 in network (CMS). This model doesn't count network limits, prior authorization or the risk of being refused Medigap later.