Medicare, explained by someone you can call.
Turning 65, retiring later than you planned, or just tired of guessing whether your plan still fits? I walk through the parts with you, check your own doctors and prescriptions, and tell you plainly what each option would mean for you. There is no cost for my help.
Medicare
What I help people with
Which of these makes sense depends on your doctors, your prescriptions and your budget — not on what is advertised the loudest.
Medicare Advantage
Plans that bundle your Part A and Part B coverage through a private carrier, usually with a network. We check whether your doctors are in that network before you sign anything.
Medicare Supplement (Medigap)
Coverage that sits alongside Original Medicare and picks up costs it leaves behind. Useful if you want to keep seeing any provider who accepts Medicare.
Part D prescription drug plans
Drug coverage, compared against the medications you actually take and the pharmacy you actually use. This is where most surprises come from.
Annual reviews
Plans change every year, quietly. A yearly look takes twenty minutes and is the cheapest insurance against an unpleasant January.
When you can make a change
Medicare runs on windows. Miss one and you often wait a year, so it is worth knowing which one you are in.
- Turning 65
- Your Initial Enrollment Period runs seven months — the three months before your birthday month, the month itself, and the three months after. Starting early is what keeps coverage from beginning late.
- Oct 15 – Dec 7
- The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period, when anyone with Medicare can change plans for the coming year.
- Jan 1 – Mar 31
- The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, for people already in an Advantage plan who want to switch once.
- Still working at 65
- If you have coverage through an employer, the timing is different and the penalties are real. Call before you do anything — this is the one people get wrong most often.
- Life changes
- Moving, losing other coverage or other qualifying events can open a Special Enrollment Period outside the usual windows.
What we check together
- Whether your doctors and specialists are in the plan’s network
- How each option covers the prescriptions you take now
- Whether your pharmacy is in network, and what that changes
- Deductibles, out-of-pocket costs and how they fit your budget
- Whether you may qualify for help paying Medicare costs
Questions people actually ask
Does it cost anything to work with you?
No. There is no cost to you for my help comparing your options or enrolling. I am paid by the carrier if you choose a plan through me, and that does not change what the plan costs you.
I am turning 65 but still working. What should I do?
Call before you do anything else. Whether you should enroll now or delay depends on your employer coverage, and getting it wrong can mean a penalty you carry for as long as you have Medicare. It is a short conversation and it is worth having early.
Do I have to switch plans every year?
No. But plans change their costs, networks and drug lists every year, so the plan that fit you last year may not fit now. A yearly review tells you whether to stay put — staying put is a perfectly good answer.
Can we do this in Spanish?
Yes. I speak Spanish and English, and I explain the same things the same way in both. Nothing gets lost because of language.
Other coverage I help with
Let’s look at it together.
A short call, no pressure, and no cost for my help. English or Spanish.