Medigap or Medicare Advantage?

As I approach my decision date, the road ahead remains foggy. A trip to the Office of the Aging was less productive than I had hoped. Once they learned I was computer literate, I was informed  http://www.medicare.gov contained all the resources I needed to make a decision.

I downloaded two .pdfs of 60 pages each. The first listed what Medicare covered. The second purported to guide readers through choosing a Medigap policy. I am just beginning to learn the difference between Medigap and Medical Advantage policies.

Medical Advantage - what I have learned so far... .
Equals one-stop shopping. The policy covers all health insurance reimbursements, including Medicare. The insured pays for the Medical Advantage plan, the plan pays for Medicare Part B insurance and medical costs covered by the policy. Drug coverage is included in some, not all of the plans.  When drug coverage is included, the drugs the insured uses need to be specified to determine if the plan chosen covers those drugs.

Policy costs vary considerably as does what is covered, but the policies tend to cost considerably less than Medigap policies.

Many of these plans restrict the insured to doctors in the plan and require referrals for specialists.

Medigap or Medicare Supplement -
The Medigap Policy is in addition to Medicare and claims are submitted separately. The insured pays for Medicare Part B coverage and for the Medigap Policy.

Drug coverage (Medicare Part D) must be separately obtained. The result? With Medigap the insured ends up with three bills - Medicare Part B, Medicare Supplemental Insurance and Medicare Part D. The cost is considerably higher than most Medicare Advantage policies but the coverages tend to be greater and do not limit choice of doctors.

Medigap plans offer "Policies" with legally mandated coverages. Costs vary between insurers even for the same policies (coverages). Determining policy price is not always easy. Some companies put the policy rates right up on the websites. Others require you to register at their sites before divulging this information.

Dental, Vision, Hearing coverage - not
Dental Insurance is not covered by Medicare, Medicare Advantage or Medigap. Medicare Advantage does often cover up to two preventive dental visits a year, but that is it. Likewise a vision exam might be covered, but not glasses. Same with hearing exams. Other policies don't cover them at all.

Decision?
Still working on that. The superior coverage of Medigap is tempting but the cost probably will be close to that my company currently pays for standard health insurance and that is not cheap. On the other hand, it is possible to get coverage for foreign travel with some Medigap policies and that is a factor.

Probably also need to consider some kind of long-term care policy...

Back to the 'net for more research.