United States Seniors: If You Choose Medicare Advantage, You Do NOT Replace Original Medicare

There is a constant refrain this time of year in far-left-wing bad-Medicare-advice columns from groups like Consumer Reports, Kiplingers, Reuters, the New York Times, Time, The Boston Globe and so forth that says public Part C Medicare Advantage health plans replace Original Medicare Parts A and B. That is not true. Public Part C Medicare Advantage health plans add to Medicare Parts A and B. You cannot even choose Part C unless you first sign up for both A and B¹.

Public Part C Medicare Advantage plans are like private Medigap insurance plans except they are public (public vs. private also doesn't mean anything in Medicare; that's another one of the deceptions that pop up during the annual Part C and D enrollment period currently in process in the left-wing press). Both Medigap insurance and public Part C Medicare Advantage plans add to Medicare Parts A and B. It's just that the two types of supplements add different things in different ways. The basic difference is that Part C is usually an HMO and Medigap is basically like old Blue Cross Master Medical policies. There are benefits and limitations of both.

This incorrect message must have bothered the people in Washington that run Medicare so much that they changed the wording in the "Medicare and You" booklet a few years ago to make it crystal clear that Part C Medicare Advantage is just a different way to get Original Medicare, not a replacement for it. 

Because of this untruth being spread by someone (besides Democratic politicians, the people that run skilled nursing facilities seem to be the worst offendors), the government specifically says on page 75 of "Medicare and You, 2015":

"If you join a Medicare Advantage Plan, you still have Medicare. You will get your Medicare Part A and Part B from your Medicare Advantage Plan..."

Even the Democrat-party civil servants that run Medicare want you to know:

• You get all the same benefits (and usually more but sometimes lower premium costs instead but you will probably be limited to a network of providers)
• You give up no rights (of appeal and otherwise) that you have through Original Medicare.
• You can always go back to just using Original Medicare² -- only Parts A and B -- if you want. Almost no one does that but nothing will stop you from doing it.
  

As I explained in an earlier post, there are good reasons to choose a private Medigap plan instead of Part C. And there are different good reasons to choose a public Part C Medicare Advantage health plan instead of Medigap. Just don't choose one or the other for the wrong reason.

¹The same is true of Medigap supplements and many private group retiree plans. To choose Medigap, you also first have to sign up for A and B

²This is true as of October 17, 2014 and has been true for many years but it could change any time in the future if the government wants to change it. In Massachusetts where I live you can go back to just having Original Medicare and also immediately sign up for a private Medigap plan with no questions asked at least once a year and more often under many circumstances.  But that is not true in all states so be careful if you live outside Massachusetts or if you spend part of the year here in Massachusetts but are a legal resident of another state and get your Medigap policy in that state.