10/01/2026
Turning 65 means the mailbox fills up. Brochures, postcards, television ads, all of them certain that one Medicare plan is the obvious choice.
But the decision in front of you is not really about picking a plan. It is about picking a structure, and the two structures work very differently.
Medigap alongside Original Medicare means paying more each month in exchange for broad provider access and steadier costs when you use care. Medicare Advantage means paying less up front, inside a network, with more of the cost arriving as you go. From there, the differences run through everything: which doctors you can see, whether care needs advance approval, what happens when you are away from home, and how easily you can change course years from now.
Both can serve people well. It comes down to which set of trade-offs fits your life.
Medigap and Medicare Advantage differ on networks, prior authorization, and your ability to switch later. Here is how to compare them before you choose.