Choosing between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage can be confusing. In this episode of Elevate Wealth, Deanne Rosso sits down with Gary Stoller, Director of Wealth Advice, to explain the differences and help you understand your options.You’ll learn:✅ How Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage differ✅ Coverage options for hospital care, doctor visits, and prescriptions✅ Network flexibility and costs for each planNeed help making sense of your benefits? Visit elevate-wealth.com and click “Let’s Talk.”Welcome back. I'm Deanne Rosso, president and CEO of Elevate Wealth Advisory. And it seems like everywhere we're hearing about the different types of Medicare Advantage plans...that you're surrounded by all this information from TV commercials or newspaper articles or magazines. And so today I have with us Gary Stoller, our director of wealth advice. Welcome, Gary. Thank you. So, Gary, tell us about the differences between original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Great question. There are a lot of differences. So, original Medicare, we're talking about Medicare A and B, is first of all, it's Federal. So, it's a government benefit, and Medicare Advantage is actually private insurance companies. Also, for Medicare Part A, which covers hospitals, there's about a $1,700 deductible per year. And with Medicare Advantage, that cost structure just varies depending on the on the plan. So, with Medicare A, there's an annual deductible of about $1,700. Okay. Now, with Medicare Advantage, that is a different variable cost structure, depending on the company and the plan. Okay Same thing with Medicare Part B, where 80% is covered and you have 20% co-insurance. Well, with Medicare Advantage, again, the cost structure varies from plan to plan, and so the coverage varies there. Another difference is with Medicare A and B there is no prescription drug coverage, and with most Advantage plans, they work that into the benefits somehow. Also, there is no dental, vision, or hearing coverage with original Medicare, and that is kind of worked in sometimes with Medicare Advantage plans, depending on the company and plan, like I said. Then there's a really big difference that matters to a lot of people, and it has to do with doctor's networks. Okay. So with Medicare, every doctor that accepts Medicare patients is essentially in your network. So I like to call that unlimited network of doctors that accept Medicare. Now this is a a very stark difference from Medicare Advantage. Okay. Where the Advantage companies have their own HMO or PPO networks where you have to select a doctor in their network to have that coverage. Right. Not only that, those networks can change, even after you have that plan, and your doctor may or may not go in or out of network. That is a very big difference to consider. Yeah, I think that you know that's a very big difference like you're saying to consider when you're considering your options between original Medicare and Medicare Advantage is your doctors. And so Medicare Advantage plans can bundle lots of things in with the plan like you were saying. You can get dental, you can get vision. Sometimes you get cards to spend at the drugstore, or at the grocery store, or gym memberships, but a lot of people want more choice in their doctor's network and with that you're you're looking at original Medicare, right? Correct. Yeah. If you really like your doctor and and you don't want to risk losing them or having to find another doctor, then original Medicare is probably the the direction you want to go. Yeah. So, lots of differences to consider. Thank you, Gary, for that information. And with retirees getting hit with so much information about healthcare and healthcare costs and what your options are, it's really important to evaluate the options that are out there for you and make the best choice for you. And that's where we're here to help. Visit us at elevate-wealth.com and click "let's talk!"

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