Medicare: Advantage Versus Supplement – Doing Your Homework - 11/08/2025

This special episode of More for Your Money features host John Berkley and Medicare Specialist Dave Bomkamp, focusing on the critical open enrollment period. They stress that listeners must "do your homework" to mitigate financial risk and navigate the "minefields" of available options.
The discussion compares Supplemental (Medigap) plans, which augment traditional Medicare (A and B), offer no networks, and provide freedom, versus Medicare Advantage plans. Advantage plans are privately run (sometimes misleadingly called Part C) and operate using specific networks (HMO/PPO). Listeners are warned about significant pitfalls: Advantage plans have a reported 20% denial rate for procedures Medicare would otherwise cover, and switching from an Advantage plan back to a Supplement typically requires medical underwriting, making this decision potentially irreversible. Finally, failure to take Part D (drug coverage) incurs a lifelong penalty of 1% per month.