A plan advertised at zero dollars a month can cost more than one at $215 a month, on identical care. Here is the arithmetic.
A Medicare Advantage plan advertised at $0 a month is not free. What it costs you is decided by the year you have, not by the premium. Put both options in and see the whole year.
| Option | A light year | The year you expect | A bad year |
|---|
Simplified on purpose. It does not model IRMAA surcharges, drug tiers, dental and vision extras, or the fact that in most states you can be refused a Medigap policy later if you do not take one when you first qualify. The full spreadsheet covers those.
Because you pay when you use it. An Advantage plan collects its money through copays and coinsurance up to its out-of-pocket maximum, so a hospital stay or a course of specialist care can cost thousands. A Medigap policy collects a fixed premium every month and then pays almost everything.
Yes, on both routes. That is why the calculator adds it to each option rather than treating it as a difference between them.
Medicare open enrollment runs 15 October to 7 December for coverage starting 1 January. The Medigap medical-underwriting rules are separate and much less forgiving, which is the part most comparisons leave out.
The calculator above is deliberately simple. The full spreadsheet does the whole job — every plan side by side, three years of care, and your own medicines priced through each plan's formulary. It opens in Excel and works just as well in free Google Sheets.
Get the full Medicare Plan Comparison spreadsheet Or start with our free Mini Budget Tracker