How much money you can save depends on how much money you are currently spending on your insurance premiums in comparison with how much you would spend on a new insurance plan. It’s important to consider both the cost of premiums as well as the cost of services, such as doctor’s visits, when doing this comparison. For most people, the savings can be quite significant when comparing a Medicare Advantage plan to a Medigap plan. Medicare estimates the savings are around $1,000 a year, on average.

Making a switch in your Medicare insurance is an important decision, like all decisions related to your health. By law, all Medicare insurance is as good as Original Medicare. The two most important considerations: whether your total cost will be lower after paying co-pays, and whether you are comfortable in the differences between how the insurance policies work.

It’s important to consider how much you’re currently paying for your insurance and how much benefit you’re getting out of that plan. Unless you are very sick and regularly in and out of a hospital or skilled nursing facility, chances are your costs with a Medicare Advantage (MA) policy will be less than with a Medigap policy.

The other consideration has to do with the flexibility of the MA plan relative to your Medigap plan. The rules around MA plans differ widely from plan type to plan type. In some types of plans (e.g., PPOs, PFFS or MSA plans), there are no or few physician restrictions, while HMO plans generally require referrals to see specialists and restrict care to a network of physicians.

Many people like help deciding which plan is a good choice for them. Plans vary widely from company to company and from place to place, and when comparing plans between companies it’s important to compare the fine print—not just the premiums. That’s what Aon Hewitt Navigators Insurance Services Inc. (formerly known as Senior Educators Insurance Services) was created for—to provide free, professional assistance to Medicare recipients to help them choose appropriate coverage. To request help now, please fill out the short informational form here so a licensed agent can be well informed about your healthcare preferences. Or simply give us a call to speak with a licensed agent now!

If you prefer to do the research by yourself, we’ve created a number of tools to help you do so. First, we have created our Top 10 Tips for Navigating Medicare, which captures a very high-level perspective on what to consider based on our years of experience. Second, we have created a plan comparison engine that shows you a list of the plans available in your area. To access that tool, enter your zip code on the side of this page and click the “Find Plans” button. We hope that if you find a plan through our tools, you’ll enroll through our organization, as this allows us to provide excellent, professional and impartial information and help.