What is the difference between Original Medicare Supplement medicare, and an Advantage medicare plan? These 3 types of plans are the outline for your Medicare Health Insurance so let’s take a look.

Original Medicare. Also called Part A and Part B. This covers hospital stays, doctor visits and inpatient or outpatient care. This wont cover all your costs if you need care. You’ll pay for a lot of it out of your own pocket. Plus A+B won’t cover your prescription drugs. so you’ll want to pair your Original Medicare with a Supplement plan or an Advantage plan.

Option 1 is enrolling in a Medicare Supplement Plan… these are often the most popular plans because almost all doctors accept these plans and you'll have very few out-of-pocket costs. You’ll now have coverage for all of your out of pocket costs for doctor visits and hospital stays that were not covered by Original Medicare.

Supplement plans unfortunately do not cover prescription drugs. You'll need to select a prescription drug plan to pair with your supplemental plan. So you have Original Medicare paired with Supplement plan that covers your out of pocket costs. You also have a Part D Prescription drug plan to cover your drug costs.

If you don’t want a Supplement plan you can choose a Medicare Advantage Plan. health insurance providers attempt to get creative by bundling their additional health coverage not covered by original Medicare, prescription drug coverage, hearing and vision coverage into one plan. This Advantage plan will also cover your out of pocket costs not covered by Original Medicare. However, you will have less access to doctors than with a Supplement plan.

When you turn 65, I suggest you evaluate whether you want a Supplement plan and a Part D plan or if you want the Advantage plan that covers both.