Florida has roughly 4.9 million Medicare enrollees, more than any state except California, and a higher Medicare Advantage penetration rate than any state in the country.1 That structural fact shapes everything else — including the choice your parent has to make about how to receive Medicare benefits in the first place.

What Medicare covers, and what it doesn’t

Medicare is health insurance. It is not long-term-care insurance. This is the single most expensive misconception in caregiving, and it’s especially common in Florida where many adult children of out-of-state parents assume Medicare will pay for memory care or in-home aide hours. It will not.

What Medicare does cover:

What Medicare does not cover:

Original Medicare vs. Medicare Advantage in Florida

Every Medicare-eligible person in the US chooses between two broad structures: Original Medicare (Parts A and B, usually paired with a Medigap supplement and a Part D drug plan) or Medicare Advantage (Part C, a private plan that bundles A, B, and usually D plus extras). In Florida, the second option has won the popularity contest.

Roughly 52% of Florida Medicare enrollees are on Medicare Advantage in 2025, the highest rate in the country.2That number is even higher in Miami-Dade and Broward, where Advantage penetration approaches 70%. The competition has produced an unusually consumer-friendly market — almost every Florida county has at least one $0-premium Advantage plan available — but it has also produced choice overload. Miami-Dade seniors choosing a plan at AEP face 100+ options.3

When Original Medicare + Medigap usually beats Advantage

When Advantage usually beats Original Medicare

Medigap in Florida

If your parent chooses Original Medicare, they almost certainly also want a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) policy to cover the deductibles and coinsurance that Original Medicare leaves behind. Medigap plans are federally standardized— Plan G in Florida offers the same benefits as Plan G in any other state — but Florida’s pricing and enrollment rules have specific wrinkles.

Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs) in Florida

If your parent has limited income, they may qualify for one of the federal Medicare Savings Programs, administered in Florida by the Department of Children and Families:

Many Florida seniors who qualify never apply because the application is opaque and DCF is not proactive about outreach. A SHINE counselor can walk your parent through the application for free.

Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) in Florida

Medicare AEP runs from October 15 through December 7 each year. During this window your parent can:

Florida sees the most intense AEP marketing in the country — every retiree-heavy zip code is saturated with TV, mailers, and in-person events for the eight weeks before December 7. The single most important thing to know is that most ads are designed to drive enrollment in a specific plan, not to help your parent compare plans. The right comparison tool is Medicare.gov’s Plan Finder, which lets you enter your parent’s zip code, current prescriptions, and preferred providers, then ranks every plan available to them by total annual cost.5

There is also a Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (MA OEP) from January 1 through March 31 each year, during which someone already on Advantage can switch to a different Advantage plan or back to Original Medicare with Part D. This is less well-known and gives your parent a second-chance window if their AEP choice didn’t work out.

Where to get free help in Florida

SHINE(Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders) is Florida’s federally-funded State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). Volunteers across every Florida county provide free, unbiased Medicare counseling — they don’t sell plans, take commissions, or represent any insurer. Call 1-800-963-5337 or visit floridashine.org to find a counselor near your parent.

For specific Medicaid-related questions where Medicaid and Medicare interact (dual-eligibility, long-term-care benefits), see our Florida Medicaid guide.