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
How Many Medicare Advantage Plans Are in Park City, Utah?
16 for 2026 — if your address is in Summit County. The official CMS CY2026 Medicare Advantage and Part D landscape file lists 16 Medicare Advantage prescription-drug plans in Summit County from 6 organizations, 10 of them at a $0 plan premium (62.5%, against 63.6% statewide). But Park City sits on a county line: the Jordanelle side of Deer Valley, Heber City and Midway are Wasatch County, and Wasatch has 13 plans from 4 carriers — Aetna Medicare and Select Health sell in Summit and not in Wasatch, so a household that compared plans from a Park City address and then closed in Midway may have lost the carrier it settled on, not just three options. Medicare counts availability by county because Medicare.gov's rule for joining any plan is that you “live in the service area of the plan you want to join” — which also answers the second-home question this market asks more than any other in Utah: a ski condo used six weeks a winter does not put you on the Summit County shelf, and the moving Special Enrollment Period is written around “I moved to a new address that isn’t in my plan’s service area,” a change of residence, not a season. What the big number hides is where the plans actually differ: the yearly out-of-pocket maximum runs from $4,900 to $9,250 in both counties, a $4,350 gap between plans that may both show $0 and both show 4.5 stars — and $0 is not free, because the $202.90 Part B premium is still there, plus IRMAA for the higher-income households that make up much of this market. Plus why you will see 29 quoted elsewhere, the Park City Hospital / Heber Valley Hospital network question that has to be asked plan by plan, and the six-step order that narrows 16 plans to a decision — starting with confirming your county. Education, not advice, from Brian Penner.
Read →
Do RMDs Count Toward IRMAA and Raise Medicare Premiums?
Yes. The IRS says required minimum distributions are “included in taxable income except for any part that was already taxed,” and taxable income is the base of the MAGI Social Security uses to set the income-related monthly adjustment amount — two years late, per person, on Part B and Part D. For 2026 the surcharge starts above $109,000 single or $218,000 joint in 2024 MAGI and lifts the $202.90 Part B premium to $284.10, then $405.80, $527.50, $649.20 and $689.90 (CMS, November 14, 2025). RMDs begin at 73, and the piece that does the most damage is the IRS's own deferral: you may delay the first RMD “until April 1 of the following year,” but the second is still due December 31 of that same year, so you take two in one tax year. In our worked example — a Mesa County couple with a $220,000 base and a $34,000 RMD, both stated assumptions — the deferral alone moves them from Tier 1 to Tier 2: $4,869.60 in Part B IRMAA for two instead of $1,948.80, a $2,920.80 difference from a calendar choice. The lever the IRS itself describes is the qualified charitable distribution: at 70½ or older the IRA trustee pays a charity directly, the “transferred amounts are not taxable,” and at 73 “QCDs count toward the IRA owner's required minimum distribution.” Because it is excluded from gross income rather than deducted later, it never reaches MAGI; IRS Notice 2025-67 sets the 2026 ceiling at $111,000 per person, up from $108,000, and “a check made payable to the IRA owner is not a QCD.” What you cannot do: skip the RMD (a 25% excise tax, 10% if corrected within two years) or appeal it — an RMD is not one of the seven life-changing events in 20 CFR § 418.1205, and § 418.1210 says Social Security “will not consider events other than those.” Plus the still-working exception, why Roth IRAs have no lifetime RMD, and why the December 31 RMD deadline, the December 7 Annual Enrollment deadline and the year-end QCD all share one calendar. Education, not tax advice, from Brian Penner.
Read →
PERACare Is Switching to Humana for 2027: What It Means in Grand Junction
Colorado PERA's own notice: its two UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans are “changing to Humana Medicare Advantage,” with medical and drug coverage administered by Humana, and “current enrollees will automatically be enrolled in the corresponding Humana plan; no action is required.” Automatic is not the same as unchanged — a new carrier is a new provider directory and a new drug list, and with high blood pressure at 26.6% of Mesa County adults and diabetes at 8.1%, the St. Mary's, Community Hospital and prescription check is not optional. The bigger news is the third door: a new Moda Health Medicare Companion Plan “designed to work alongside Original Medicare similar to a Medicare Supplement (Medigap) Plan G,” with “no medical underwriting” — in a state with no birthday rule, that is a Medigap-style door inside PERACare that did not exist last October, and it needs an enrollment form during PERACare Open Enrollment, October 19 – November 19, 2026. Plus why this is not the Humana individual-market exit story (about 600,000 members nationally, no county list, a different product under a different contract), why Kaiser still does not reach Grand Junction, the four questions the October 1 packet has to answer about the Moda plan (drugs, Part A, subsidy, the fine print behind “similar to”), the three doors priced with the PERA subsidy included, and the two calendars that overlap but do not match. No 2027 premium, network or benefit is stated, because PERA posts them October 1. 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).