Given the average age range of the forum and how often this comes up maybe we should ask the management for a "Medicare" subforum.
Medicare Advantage is good as long as you are healthy. Other than that, it's very limited in what it will do.
BAM-BAM made some great points, so I'll try to limit my comments as much as possible.
I learned more than I ever wanted to about medical billing when I was the project manager for my services electronic Patient Care Report system.
At the time, auto insurance paid every penny billed on a first come - first served basis until the money was gone. So, it was a race to get the bills in first. We lost that race because of our archaic paper based billing system. We also lost three billable reports a day for one reason or another.
Medicare pays a pretty small portion of what is billed, which is why a supplement is necessary. They'll pay 80% of what they allow, not what the hospital bills. The supplement makes up the rest. Some hospitals will do a sliding scale based on your income, but many won't. No supplement, you pay "retail."
Medicaid is even worse for the hospitals and other medical providers. The people on Medicaid pay nothing.
You can be on both Medicare and Medicaid, but as someone else mentioned you have to spend down your money. You do NOT have to sell your house if one spouse is still living and living there. My friend had Dementia and had to go to a nursing home and his wife did have to "spend down" much of their savings before applying for that. They exam the finances thoroughly and take their sweet time. She had to hire an attorney ($10,000) to get through the process. She also had to pay for the first month in the nursing home ($16,000) and that is not reimbursed. Sadly, he died during that first month.
Medical facilities do not have to accept Medicare and FL and TX lead the nation in having facilities that don't. However, if they do accept Medicare, they have to accept your supplement.
There was a time where municipal retirees in MA didn't have to go on Medicare, but the law changed about 10 years ago. I don't know if that is federal or just MA law.
A general rule I follow about insurance ads on TV is the better the advertisement, the worse the coverage and willingness to pay out.
As BAM-BAM says the system has been screwed up since the 1980s and every attempt to make it better just makes it worse.
Hospital "charges" [the statement you get] are generally nowhere near what Hospitals actually get from an Ins Co. , Medicare or Medicaid.
Back in the day the only ones that paid charges were Auto Ins and Workers Comp claims........ about 7% of the business. Today, by law, they pay the Medicare/Medicaid rate + 5-10%
Not unusual for Hospitals and Physicians [in Pa,] get less than $ .50 on the dollar vs "charges"
Most Hospitals here, by Board/Hospital policy, will accept as little as $ .50-.60 on the dollar from self pay or on deductibles. You need to ask.
Hospital margins are are better than Grocery stores but still only about 3-6% which is why many Community Hospitals are closing or downsizing.
Ya, the system has been screwed up since about 1983.
