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
Medicare Advantage Plans in Tooele County, Utah for 2026
15 for 2026, from 6 carriers, 10 of them at a $0 plan premium — per the official CMS CY2026 Medicare Advantage and Part D landscape file, counting drug-inclusive Medicare Advantage plans only (the aggregators' 21 and 31 fold in plans without drug coverage, Special Needs Plans and stand-alone drug plans). That puts Tooele 7th of Utah's 28 counties, nearly double the median county's 8, and makes it Salt Lake County's list of 7 carriers minus exactly one: Select Health appears in Salt Lake's file rows and not in Tooele's. Tooele also shares the Wasatch Front's floor — it is one of only 6 counties with a plan at a $3,500 out-of-pocket maximum — but the ceiling runs to $9,250, a $5,750 gap between plans that may both show $0 and both show 4.5 stars, the highest rating available in every Utah county in the file. The geography is the story: CMS's Hospital General Information file lists exactly one hospital in the county, Mountain West Medical Center on North Main Street (acute care, emergency services, a 4-star CMS hospital rating), and most specialty care is in Murray or Salt Lake City over I-80 — so every plan has to be checked against Tooele and Salt Lake providers by name, with the HMO-versus-PPO question deciding what a wrong answer costs. Medicare.gov's rule is that you “live in the service area of the plan you want to join,” an HMO covers out-of-network care only for “Emergency care, Out-of-area urgent care, Temporary out-of-area dialysis,” and a plan premium is paid “in addition to the Part B premium” — $202.90 a month in 2026, so $0 is not free. Plus the neighbor table (Salt Lake 24, Utah 21, Box Elder 12, Juab 5, Grand 8), the five-step order that narrows 15 to a decision, and why Wendover and Dugway get the same shelf with a very different hospital map. No 2027 plan detail, because CMS publishes it October 1. Education, not advice, from Brian Penner.
Read →
Is High-Deductible Medigap Plan G Worth It in 2026?
Only if a $2,667 bad year is a shrug. High-deductible Plan G is standard Plan G with one clause: Medicare.gov's benefit chart says you “must pay up to $2,950 in 2026 for Medicare-covered costs (coinsurance, copayments and deductibles) before your policy pays anything.” Because standard G already leaves you the $283 Part B deductible — and that $283 counts toward the $2,950 — the most the high-deductible version can ever cost you beyond G in a year is $2,667, and one inpatient admission at St. Mary's or Community Hospital fills 59% of the deductible by itself through the $1,736 Part A deductible. The break-even is simple: the plan wins in any year your Medicare-covered cost sharing is below the premium saved plus $283. On our stated assumption of a $100-a-month premium gap (not a quote — Colorado premiums vary by company and age), that is $1,483; a quiet year saves about $800, a hospital year costs $1,467 net, and seven quiet years to three hospital years leaves the high-deductible plan roughly $1,199 ahead over a decade while five and five hands it to standard G. CMS's calendar-year 2026 memo sets the amount under section 1882(p)(11)(C) of the Social Security Act, indexed to CPI-U and rounded to $10 (a 2.92% step for 2026), updated “after release of the August Consumer Price Index ... which generally occurs in mid-September” — the 2027 figure had not been posted when this was written. The Colorado wrinkle: no birthday rule, so stepping up from the high-deductible version to full G later is usually an application with health questions; decide inside the 6-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period or a guaranteed-issue window when both doors are open. And the HSA angle for higher-income households: IRS Publication 969 bars HSA money from “premiums for a Medicare supplemental policy, such as Medigap,” but the $2,950 of coinsurance and deductibles is a qualified medical expense — a tax-free bucket sized for exactly the layer this plan leaves open. Plus the what-counts table, who it fits and who it does not, and the seven-step order for this fall. Education, not advice, from Brian Penner.
Read →
Does Inheritance Count as Income for Medicare Premiums?
Usually not. IRS Publication 525 says that “in most cases, property you receive as a gift, bequest, or inheritance isn't included in your income” — and Medicare's income-related surcharge (IRMAA) is keyed to MAGI, so a bequest of cash, a house or a life insurance payout cannot raise your premium. The same publication carries the exception that matters for most Utah households: “if you inherited a pension or an IRA, you may have to include part of the inherited amount in your income.” Every taxable withdrawal from an inherited traditional IRA or 401(k) is ordinary income, and under Publication 590-B's 10-year rule a non-spouse heir must “withdraw the entire balance of the IRA by December 31 of the year containing the 10th anniversary of the owner's death” — with an annual life-expectancy minimum on top if the owner had reached age 73, which is nearly everyone inheriting from a parent. The IRS's eligible designated beneficiaries (spouse, minor child, disabled or chronically ill, or “not more than 10 years younger than the IRA owner”) may stretch instead; an inherited Roth empties on the same clock but a distribution “made to a beneficiary or to your estate after your death” is a qualified distribution, so it never touches MAGI. An inherited house resets its basis to fair market value on the date of death, so only later gain is income; life insurance proceeds “aren't includable in gross income.” 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, up to $689.90 (CMS, November 14, 2025). In our worked example — a single Utah filer with an $82,000 base inheriting a $300,000 IRA, both stated assumptions — $27,000 a year lands exactly on the line at $0 IRMAA, $30,000 a year costs $974.40 a year for a decade (about $9,744), and one enormous year costs $5,355.60 once, a comparison that only makes sense next to the income tax and belongs with your tax advisor. What you cannot do: skip the withdrawals, or appeal — an inheritance is not one of the life-changing events in 20 CFR § 418.1205. Education, not tax 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).