I wouldn’t buy one from anyone. John Oliver did a piece on that recently. Short version: insurance companies love it, seniors often get screwed.
The piece is on YouTube, of you want the details. Vanilla Medicare is better for seniors, and tax payers. Advantage plans benefit insurance companies enormously, and should probably be outlawed.
I would carefully consider all details. Price but also how many hospitals and physicians are in network. If they can make deals providers find competitive and profitable and at competitive prices for the insured, I would consider them. But failing that no way. beginner. Unproven. wait a while to decide.
Regardless of the name fronting the plan, your short version holds. They’re little more than the same opportunity to con the unwary/credulous into willingly providing an industry with a profitable scheme that can be dumped the moment it becomes unprofitable.
Since this has been a topic of discussion so frequently on this board, and with varying degrees of fine detail, there’s no longer much of an excuse to claim “unwariness”. It makes you wonder 
But many seniors love it.
Note, that is not a plug in favor of MA plans but it is to illustrate that most of these plans are heavily subsidized to the point that they are basically free for the insured.
They certainly are not the best insurance, but if they are free, it is hard to argue against them from the policyholder perspective. Still a boon for the insurance company at the expense of taxpayers.
In 2026, three quarters (75%) of enrollees in individual Medicare Advantage plans with prescription drug coverage pay no premium other than the Medicare Part B premium, which is a selling point for enrollees, particularly those living on modest incomes.
If a couple can get a free MA plan versus paying $400 a month for 2 plan Gs, that is a significant annual savings.
Just don’t get sick…
Yeah… just don’t get sick. That’s a good plan.
But it kind of confounds the purpose of insurance, to cover unexpected expenses that could rock your world.
I told a friend about to enroll, “just remember, there’s no advantage to advantage.” He went with advantage, anyway, but switched to regular medicare. Just in time for prostate surgery.
I’m a senior and my experience with Medicare Advantage has been great. I have a PPO so I can get coverage anywhere, similar to Med Sup. My copays for in network and out of network are identical (I do have a higher out of pocket maximum out of network). I get that a cerntain faction of people hate MA plans for a variey of reasons. I’m also aware that they are popular with a significant segment of society. YTD I have spent ~$700 for part A & B charges (including a couple of emergency room visits. I just ordered diabetic shoes with no copay. I use my monthly grocery credit which lowers my annual cost by $500. I pay nothing for dental care and have a large benefit with no copay. I’m getting new glasses from Costco and have a $350 credit which I believe more than covers my cost. My policy includes a drug plan that I max out every year and my costs this year were $274. In my case, my Advantage plan benefits me enormously. To each his own (don’t outlaw my choice)
It is a choice many many seniors have to make all the time. $400 a month might be 10% of a couples total annual spending in retirement (median household income is just $60k for 65+). Not having to pay that, even at the risk of a higher bill later - is often a choice seniors have to make regardless of MA options.
MA plans are more popular (about 54%) than traditional Medicare. For those that pick Medicare, the most popular plan is G. In other words, those that chose the more expensive Medicare go on to pick the most expensive Medicare plan.
It is easy to see the choices being made here between those that can afford more robust coverage and those that cannot.
I fear that all the gimcracks offered under Advantage are to entice everyone over, then eliminate regular Medicare, then raise prices and restrict coverage.
But I could be wrong. Insurance companies could be turning over a new leaf.
Right. New leaf, same ol’ dead tree.
Pete
It’s generally only more expensive until you really need it. Then MA often screws it’s subscribers, while also screwing taxpayers.
Seriously… Watch the John Oliver piece on this. It’s twice as bad as I imagined.
And once you’re on MA, it can be nearly impossible to go back to vanilla Medicare.
Do you have any numbers or percentages?
DB2
Are you looking for raw figures in order to have a serious rethink about your decision to trust your luck with managed Medicare? I’m sure you have the capability to type a few unbiased prompts into your chosen online search engine to answer that question to your own satisfaction.
JAQing off, though, is a different thing altogether. Srsly, if you’re truly satisfied with the way your plan is working for you and, either don’t believe or don’t accept that the negative comments and documented reports regarding MA plans apply to you…or ever will…why bother. It’s probably much easier to keep the faith if you don’t look too hard for evidence.
Absolutely! I don’t want to outlaw Medicare Advantage. I just want to make sure they’re cracking down on the corporate fraud and not subsidizing it at the expense of other Medicare beneficiaries.
Even if we had Medicare For All, clever sales & marketing would still convince 50% of the population to chose a for-profit plan with a large part of the benefit skimmed off to the insurer. That’s just the way America works and thinks.
If you’re willing to pay a higher premium (or get less medical care) to fund United Healthcare’s $9 Billion kickback in “royalties” to AARP, be my guest.
https://www.axios.com/2025/10/10/unitedhealth-aarp-health-coverage-medicare
intercst
But that’s the thing isn’t it? Folk with managed Medicare don’t actually want it managed to the degree that the plan managers do. If that were the case, and folk routinely accepted the increased denials and trimmed back care without question and as an inevitable consequence of economising on the front end, the MA plans wouldn’t be so expensive to administer.
That’s not the case, however. For most folk there’s the assumption that at any doctor’s office/hospital/outpatient department, they’ll receive the same quality of care as anyone else. Not unreasonable, really…until you start to wonder just how much their cost saving exercise costs the rest of us or ends up compromising our care.
Two weeks ago, I spent a half hour on the phone trying to schedule a CT scan. Imaging clinic says they didn’t get the referral. I call ZoomCare and tell them to fax it again. They tell me that it’s waiting for “prior authorization”. I say, “What do you mean? I’m on regular Medicare, there is no prior authorization.”
“Doesn’t matter, our standards require us to send everything through the same prior authorization meat grinder.”
Me, “Let me talk to a supervisor.”
After a short wait clerk says, “I’m sending it now.’ Rayus should have it by tomorrow morning.”
So even if you’ve been careful to avoid Medicare Advantage, you’re still suffering from the poisonous effects of Medicare Advantage.
intercst
No, it was the use of “often” by 1pg. Did he mean once a day? 5% of customers in a year? 50% of customers? Often is carrying a lot of weight there.
DB2
Well, this is part of the problem of viewing medical insurance as a personal umbrella policy (don’t outlaw my zero/low premiums) as opposed to a contribution to a fund that’s dipped into unequally but with shared funding. My last off the cuff comment got me thinking…specifically if, or how much, traditional Medicare beneficiaries are subsidising Medicare Advantage plans. I mean, it’s easy to argue from the perspective of a touch of resentment, maybe, and that looked at very superficially and without knowledge or understanding of the shortcomings of MA plans, it might seem on first blush as if trad Medicare enrollees are the ones paying through the nose for a stripped down plan. No free eyeglasses, dental, gym membership, food vouchers etc etc…all for next to no extra premiums.
So, just to satisfy myself one way or the other, I asked Google that very question as a place to start looking…“do traditional Medicare beneficiaries subsidise Medicare Advantage plans”. About as unbiased a prompt as I could think up…I mean, the answer could’ve been a resounding “No”, right? It was not. Quite the reverse…in all manner of ways that have more general impact for everyone (not just Medicare beneficiaries), and are more insidious and worrisome to me than minor inconveniences when trying to schedule a routine testing, as aggravating as that is.
I’ll leave it to the folk who’re really interested to do the same exercise for themselves … but it’s sobering reading when looking at why our PartB premiums are steadily increasing for but one relevant question (hint…it does not stop there)
PS…just for the heck of it, I asked Google a slightly more loaded question 
… “how much do other patients/traditional Medicare beneficiaries subsidise Medicare Advantage plans?”
Ooops…
Medicare Advantage Costs Taxpayers 22% More Per Enrollee. Here’s How Payment Reform Could Help Close the Gap. - November 26, 2024 - USC Schaeffer Medicare Advantage Costs Taxpayers 22% More Per Enrollee. Here’s How Payment Reform Could Help Close the Gap. - November 26, 2024 - USC Schaeffer
Medicare Advantage Costs and Growth Largely Unexamined - Medicare Rights Center https://share.google/AHJxVf50clSjCFqLF
This is one rabbit hole I almost wish I hadn’t stumbled upon.
Of course the Europeans with general universal plans cover seniors less than the US seniors historically have been covered.