Best Medicare Supplement for 2026? Here Is the Plan I Would Buy at 65

Knowing what I know, at 65 I would buy a Plan G. And there are people I would tell to stay away from it.

Why Plan G

A Medicare Supplement is a private policy that sits on top of Original Medicare and picks up most of what Medicare leaves you paying. Plan G is the one I would take.

Once I pay the Part B deductible — $283 in 2026 — Plan G picks up the rest of what Medicare approves.

It does not touch dental, vision, hearing or my prescriptions. Those I buy separately, and I will get to what that costs.

There is no network. Any doctor or hospital in the country that takes Medicare accepts this plan, and the company cannot drop me for getting sick.

What it will do is get more expensive as I get older. That premium climbs.

The timing people get wrong

You get six months from when you sign up for Part B where a Supplement has to take you with no health questions.

And if you worked past 65 on a job plan, your six months has not started yet. It starts the month you take Part B.

Miss those six months and in most states, Florida included, the company can look at your health history and turn you down.

So it is not that Plan G is right for everybody. It is that this window is the easiest time to get into one.

So why would I tell anybody to stay away?

It comes down to what it costs, all in, every month.

• Part A — nothing, if you have 40 quarters of work in
• Part B — $202.90 a month in 2026
• A Plan G — somewhere between $110 and $220, depending on your age and where you live
• A drug plan — call it $35 a month

That is around $400 a month, whether you see a doctor or not.

If your Social Security check is $1,400, that is more than a quarter of it gone before you buy groceries.

If $400 a month is more than your check has left after the bills, then Plan G is not your answer, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.

If that is you, look at Advantage

You still pay that same $202.90 for Part B. Nobody escapes that one.

But the plan’s own premium is low, sometimes nothing, and most of them fold your drug coverage in, so that $35 goes away too.

You are working inside a network and you pay copays as you go, up to a yearly ceiling. That ceiling can reach $9,250 in 2026.

And here is the part that surprises people: Original Medicare on its own has no ceiling at all. An Advantage plan puts one there.

Before you rule anything out

That $1,400 check is right in the range where a Medicare Savings Program may pay your Part B premium for you. Extra Help lowers what you pay for prescriptions. Both go by income.

A lot of people qualify and never apply. Ask before you decide anything.

My honest answer

If the budget carries a Plan G, 65 is the year to get it.

If the budget says Advantage, that is not second place. Most of the people I sit down with are on Advantage plans, and they are covered.

Coming up on 65 and want to run your own numbers? Call or text me at 941-412-2362.

Educational only. Not connected with or endorsed by the U.S. government or the federal Medicare program.