Your county
Plan availability is county-level. Hamilton County and Bradley County can have different panels.
Medicare Part C
Medicare Advantage
A private plan that takes over your Part A and Part B benefits, usually adds Part D, and often adds dental, vision and an over-the-counter allowance. The trade is the network and the prior authorisation rules.
What this actually is
Medicare Advantage plans are attractive for a reason: low or zero additional premium, an out-of-pocket maximum that Original Medicare does not have, and extras that Original Medicare never covers. For people who stay local and are comfortable inside a network, they work well.
The trade-offs are real and we say them out loud. You use the plan's provider network, referrals and prior authorisation may apply, and the benefits can change every year at renewal. Travel outside the service area is where people get surprised, so we ask about snowbird months before we recommend anything.
Because plan design changes annually, an Advantage plan is not a set-and-forget decision. We re-run your drug list and your doctors against next year's plan every autumn during the Annual Enrolment Period, October 15 to December 7.
What we do on this line
- Network check for every doctor, specialist and hospital you name
- Drug list run against the plan's formulary tiers, with the pharmacy you actually use
- Maximum out-of-pocket comparison across the plans available in your county
- Extra benefits compared honestly: dental allowance, vision, hearing aids, OTC card, transport, fitness
- Prior authorisation and referral rules explained before you enrol, not after
- An annual review every autumn, because the plan you liked can change underneath you
What moves the number
Price is not random. These are the levers, in the order they usually matter.
Travel pattern
Months away, a second home, or grandchildren in another state all matter for a network plan.
Prescriptions
One specialty drug on a high tier can outweigh every extra benefit in the brochure.
Specialists you already see
An in-network cardiologist is worth more than an OTC allowance.
How the appointment runs
- 01
List
Doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and every prescription with the dose.
- 02
Compare
Every plan offered in your county that we represent, scored on your list rather than on the brochure.
- 03
Decide
We give you the two or three worth considering and say plainly what each one costs you in flexibility.
- 04
Review
Every October, before the December 7 deadline, we check next year's plan against this year's life.
Questions we get about medicare advantage
You can change during the Annual Enrolment Period, and there is also a Medicare Advantage Open Enrolment Period from January 1 to March 31. Moving to a Medicare Supplement later may require medical underwriting, which is the part people are not warned about.
Many carry a zero additional premium, but you still pay your Part B premium, and you pay copays and coinsurance as you use care. Zero premium is not zero cost.
The plan has to approve certain services before it will pay. It is a normal feature of network plans, and it is a real difference from Original Medicare, so we tell you which services it usually applies to.
Carriers file new benefit designs annually. Your premium, drug tiers, extras and provider network can all shift on January 1. That is why we review every autumn.
Often bought alongside
Medicare Supplement (Medigap)
A standardised plan that pays the gaps Original Medicare leaves, with no network and predictable costs.
Read the detailPart D prescription cover
Standalone drug plans, chosen on your actual prescriptions and your actual pharmacy.
Read the detailDental, vision and hearing
Standalone cover for the three things medical plans mostly do not pay for.
Read the detailTwenty minutes usually settles it
Bring your prescriptions, the doctors you want to keep and a rough income number. We do the rest.
Our help is free to you. We are paid by the carrier you choose, and the premium is the same whether you use us or enrol on your own.