Medicare · Social Security timing · Long-term care · Moab, Monticello & Grand Junction
More than just Medicare.
Medicare is where we start — not where we stop. We help you compare and enroll in the right plan, understand how Social Security and Medicare timing fit together, and plan for long-term care — all coordinated with your financial advisor. Insurance companies pay our fee — so you pay nothing for our services.
One plan, not three errands
Medicare, Social Security & long-term care — planned together
These three decisions are connected: your income shapes your Medicare premiums, your claiming age shapes your income, and a long-term care event can undo both. We help you look at the whole picture.
Medicare
Advantage, Supplement (Medigap) and Part D — compared for your doctors, prescriptions and budget, enrolled on time, and reviewed every fall.
Explore Medicare plans →Social Security Planning
When you claim can mean tens of thousands of dollars of difference over a retirement. Meet with us and get a personalized Social Security analysis — your claiming windows, your Medicare premiums (IRMAA), and your retirement income, mapped together.
Get a Social Security analysis →Long-Term Care Planning
Medicare generally doesn't pay for long-term custodial care — and paying out of pocket can drain a lifetime of savings. We build a long-term care analysis around your assets, then walk through traditional and hybrid coverage that protects what you've built.
Get a long-term care analysis →Want all three looked at in one sitting? Book a private, no-cost Retirement & IRMAA Review — 45 minutes, one-on-one with Brian Penner.
Book a Retirement & IRMAA ReviewWhat's your ZIP code?
We start local — plan availability is set by your county.
How old are you?
This tells us which coverage window you're in.
Which best describes you?
Pick one — you can change this anytime.
How often do you see doctors?
Helps us weigh networks vs. freedom.
Do you take prescriptions?
We match your drugs to the lowest-cost plan.
No cost, no pressure. We do not offer every plan available in your area — for all options visit Medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE.
How we help
Everything you need, handled with care
Navigate Medicare “red tape”
Parts A, B, C and D, deadlines and paperwork — we translate it all into plain English and handle the legwork.
Understand all your options
Advantage, Supplement (Medigap) and Part D, compared side by side so you can choose with confidence.
Avoid lifetime “gotcha” penalties
Miss a window and you can pay more for the rest of your life. We make sure you enroll on time, every time.
A custom plan for lifetime care
We match coverage to your doctors, prescriptions and budget — and review it every year as your needs change.
All at no cost to you.
How it works
Get the right Medicare plan in 3 steps
Schedule a free conversation
Tell us your doctors, prescriptions and budget. No cost, no pressure — ever.
Get a personal plan comparison
We compare the Medicare Advantage, Medigap and Part D plans we offer against your needs.
Enroll & get ongoing support
We handle enrollment and stay your local advisor for claims, appeals and annual reviews.
Our services
Explore services, plans & options
Medicare Enrollment Assistance
Turning 65 or new to Medicare — we guide every step of your Initial Enrollment.
Plan Comparison
Advantage vs. Supplement vs. Part D, compared for your exact situation.
Annual Coverage Review
Plans change yearly. We check yours every fall so you never overpay.
Social Security & Medicare Timing
Your claiming age and your enrollment window are two different clocks — we map both around your full retirement age.
Long-Term Care Planning
Medicare doesn't pay for most long-term care. We help you plan for that risk before it drains a lifetime of savings.
Retirement Income & IRMAA Awareness
Your income sets your Medicare premiums. We flag IRMAA thresholds and coordinate with your financial advisor.
Claims Support & Appeals
A real, local advocate for when something goes wrong.
Keep Your Doctor
We help confirm your providers and prescriptions are covered before you switch.
Drug Cost Review
Make sure your prescriptions are covered at the lowest total cost among the plans we offer.
Local health picture · CDC county data
Why plan fit matters in Mesa County, CO
The right Medicare plan depends on your health — and conditions like these are common among adults in Mesa County, CO. It's why we check each plan's drug formulary and specialist network against your doctors and prescriptions before you enroll, instead of comparing headline premiums alone.
Share of adults with each condition (crude prevalence). Source: CDC PLACES county estimates, 2025 release — also available for every Utah, Colorado & Arizona county as machine-readable JSON. Education only, not medical advice.
Benefit from decades of experience
Your personal Medicare & insurance consultant
Brian Penner brings a broad understanding of Medicare, Social Security timing, and long-term care planning — and the patience to make sure you understand every option before you decide.
Meet Brian Penner →For financial advisors, CPAs & attorneys
The Medicare desk for your clients
Your clients' Medicare decisions sit inside your financial plan — IRMAA brackets, Roth-conversion timing, HSA wind-downs, turning-65 windows. We handle the Medicare and long-term care side, keep you in the loop, and never touch the investments — at no cost to you or the client.
How the advisor partnership works →Resources
Latest Medicare guidance
Does University of Utah Health Accept Medicare Advantage?
Some plans, some years — and the honest answer is that no third-party list can settle it for your plan. Network status isn’t a fact about a hospital; it’s a contract between one insurer and one health system, renegotiated on a schedule nobody publishes. Medicare.gov says it outright: plans can change the providers in the network at any time during the year. Not at renewal — during the year. Two dated events show how fast this particular question moves. Select Health added University of Utah Health facilities and providers to its Medicare Advantage network effective July 1, 2022 — the hospital, Huntsman Cancer Institute, the Moran Eye Center, University Orthopaedic Center, and the South Jordan, Sugar House and Farmington health centers. Then, effective January 1, 2024, University of Utah Health Plans discontinued its OWN Medicare Advantage plans, telling Advantage U members they would need to obtain coverage from another Medicare plan for 2024 and beyond. Eighteen months, two reversals, no headlines. So this is the method instead of a list: ask about the doctor and the location, not “the U”; search the plan’s directory by physician name for the plan year you’re asking about; confirm with both the plan and the clinic’s billing office and write down the reference number; redo it every October. Plus why availability comes first (Salt Lake County has 24 plans from 7 carriers, Grand County has 8 from 2), why the $3,500–$9,250 out-of-pocket spread decides between two plans that both say yes, why emergencies are covered regardless of network, and the version of this question that has no network at all. Education, not advice, from Brian Penner.
Read →
What Is the Annual Notice of Change Letter From Medicare?
It’s your plan telling you, in writing and by federal rule, exactly what it’s about to do differently on January 1 — and every September a lot of sensible people throw it away, because it arrives in a fat envelope with an insurance return address and looks like the marketing that’s been filling the mailbox since August. The deadline isn’t a custom. Under 42 CFR §422.111(d)(2), for changes effective January 1 a Medicare Advantage organization must “notify all enrollees at least 15 days before the beginning of the Annual Coordinated Election Period” — which opens October 15, putting the letter in your hands by September 30. That two-week gap is deliberate: you’re meant to find out, sit with it, and price alternatives before the window opens, not discover a formulary change in February with no move left. Read six lines and ignore the rest on the first pass, and read them in this order: your drugs tier by tier, the provider network, the out-of-pocket maximum, the deductible, the premium, the service area. The premium is the number everyone checks first and the one that explains the least — a plan can hold it flat and move one maintenance medication from a preferred tier to a specialty tier, and the letter reports both facts in the same font. Plus what changes for 2027 no matter which plan you’re in (the Part D out-of-pocket cap rising from $2,100 to $2,400, the standard deductible ceiling from $615 to $700), what actually happens if you do nothing — which splits cleanly depending on whether your plan is continuing — and why a short hospital list and a 26.6% high-blood-pressure rate make the network and formulary lines sharper from a Mesa County address. Education, not advice, from Brian Penner.
Read →
Can I Keep COBRA Instead of Medicare at 65 in Colorado?
Almost never safely — and the order you do it in changes the outcome. COBRA is not coverage based on CURRENT employment, which is the only kind that lets you delay Part B, so Medicare.gov gives you 8 months after you stop working to enroll “whether or not you choose COBRA.” COBRA runs 18 months. Those two clocks are the whole trap: the person planning to “switch when COBRA ends” is planning to enroll ten months after their protection expired, and nothing arrives in the mail to warn them. Worse, paying the premium doesn’t mean the plan pays — once you’re Medicare-eligible but not enrolled, COBRA “may only pay for a small portion” of your care, because it’s allowed to subtract a Medicare payment nobody made. Then the sequence almost nobody explains: 26 CFR §54.4980B-7 lets a plan cut off COBRA when you become Medicare-entitled AFTER electing it — but entitlement that begins on or before the election “cannot be a basis for terminating” it. Medicare first, then COBRA, and the coverage survives. Plus the 102% and 150% premium ceilings, the 36-month extension for a younger spouse, why a severance check raises your Part B premium in 2028, and Colorado’s own continuation statute — which says outright that an employer need not offer continuation to anyone covered by Medicare. Education, not advice, from Brian Penner.
Read →Got questions?
We have lots of great answers
What if I’m already on Medicare?
We can still help — at no cost. We’ll review your current coverage, check that your doctors and prescriptions are covered, and compare it against the plans we offer to see if you could be paying less or getting more.
Do you charge for your time?
No. Insurance companies pay our fee, so you don’t pay a thing for our services. You get unbiased, local guidance at no cost to you.
What are “lifetime penalties”?
If you don’t enroll in Medicare Part B or Part D when you’re first eligible (and don’t have other qualifying coverage), you can owe a permanent late-enrollment penalty added to your premium for as long as you have Medicare. We make sure you enroll in the right window so you avoid them.
Is it true I could lose my doctor?
Some Medicare Advantage plans use provider networks, so the wrong plan could mean your doctor is out of network. Before you enroll, we confirm your physicians and prescriptions are covered by the plan you choose.
What about additional coverages?
Beyond core Medicare, we can help with dental, vision and hearing, hospital indemnity, and life or final-expense coverage — so the gaps Medicare leaves are covered too.
Do you only help with Medicare?
Medicare is our focus, but it's not where we stop. We also help with Social Security and Medicare timing education, long-term care planning, life and final-expense coverage, and annuities — coordinated with your financial advisor, CPA, or attorney so your healthcare and your retirement plan work together instead of in separate silos.
Let’s connect
Get your free, personalized Medicare roadmap from a local advisor who has your back.
Official Medicare sources
Verify current-year figures with the federal sources: Medicare.gov, Medicare Plan Compare, Social Security (ssa.gov), and CMS.gov. Education only — we do not offer every plan available in your area.
Last updated . Maintained by the Medicare On Main Data Desk · reviewed by Brian Penner, Independent Medicare advisor (NPN 16493717).