Can I have both Original Medicare and a Medicare Advantage plan?

When you enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan (Part C, your Medicare benefits delivered through a private plan), that plan becomes the way you receive your Part A and Part B benefits, so you are no longer using Original Medicare to pay your claims while you are in the plan. You stay enrolled in Medicare and keep paying the Part B premium ($202.90 per month in 2026), but the private plan handles your coverage. You also cannot pair a Medigap (supplement) policy with a Medicare Advantage plan, since Medigap only works alongside Original Medicare. If you later leave Medicare Advantage during an enrollment window, you return to Original Medicare and can then consider adding a Part D drug plan and a Medigap policy. The two systems are alternatives, not something you combine.