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
What Happens If I Don't Pick a New Medicare Plan for 2027?
You are not left uninsured — you are left in Original Medicare on January 1 with no drug plan, no supplement and no ceiling. Medicare.gov’s own words for a plan whose contract is not renewed: “You’ll be enrolled in Original Medicare if you don’t join another Medicare Advantage Plan before your current plan ends.” So nothing lapses, no form is required, and you can still walk into any Grand Valley facility that takes Medicare. What inaction actually removes is two specific things, and both only bill you in the year that goes wrong. The first is the ceiling. Every Advantage plan sold in Mesa County has a yearly out-of-pocket maximum; Original Medicare alone does not — “There’s no yearly limit on what you pay out-of-pocket, unless you have supplemental coverage.” Against 2026’s verified figures that means $202.90 a month in Part B premium, a $283 Part B deductible, a $1,736 Part A hospital deductible per benefit period rather than per year, and then 20% of the cost of each covered service with nothing standing behind it. Twenty percent of an office visit is a nuisance. Twenty percent of a cardiac admission is not. The second is drug coverage, and it charges twice: retail at the counter from January 1, plus a permanent late enrollment penalty of 1% of the national base beneficiary premium — CMS has set that at $41.33 for 2027 — for every full uncovered month, added for as long as you have drug coverage even if you switch plans later. Twelve months works out to about $4.96 a month, forever, from an envelope left on a counter. But the piece almost nobody knows is that defaulting does not close your options — it quietly opens one. A non-renewed plan carries a Special Enrollment Period from December 8 through the last day of February, and the guaranteed-issue Medigap window runs up to 63 days after your coverage ends with one condition: “You only have this right if you switch to Original Medicare.” Someone who did nothing has satisfied that condition without meaning to, and Colorado has no birthday rule, so this is one of the few no-underwriting doors most people will ever get. Plus why December is the calm door and February is the expensive one, and the six things to do with the letter. Education, not advice, from Brian Penner.
Read →
How Do I Compare Two Medicare Advantage Plans in Utah?
Compare them in the order that actually separates them — which is close to the reverse of the order they are advertised in. By the time you are down to two, the numbers printed largest are the ones that are nearly identical. Of the 280 Medicare Advantage prescription-drug offerings CMS counted across 28 Utah counties for 2026, 178 — about 64% — already carry a $0 plan premium, so premium is a superb filter from thirty plans to five and close to useless from two to one. (And $0 is not free: you still pay your Part B premium, and none of the deductible, copays, drug tiers or ceiling live on that line.) Star ratings hit the same wall — in all 28 Utah counties in the CY2026 file, the highest overall rating available is the same figure, 4.5. A tiebreaker with no tie left to break. What does separate two finalists is the yearly out-of-pocket maximum, the most under-read number on any plan summary. Medicare.gov: plans “have a yearly limit on what you pay for covered Medicare services… Once you reach your plan’s limit, you’ll pay nothing for covered services for the rest of the year.” Utah’s CY2026 limits run from $3,500 to $9,250, and within a single county the gap between the lowest and highest available reaches $5,750 — between two plans that may both advertise $0 and both show 4.5 stars. Here in Grand County the shelf is 8 plans, 5 at $0, and the limits still spread $4,000. Before that comes the network, checked by plan and never by carrier, where the two words on the card decide the stakes: on an HMO you generally need a referral and “if you get health care outside the plan’s network, you may have to pay the full cost”; a PPO answers the referral question with one word, no. And the step people postpone and should not, because it cannot be undone: the drug list. Join a separate drug plan while in an HMO or PPO and “you’ll be disenrolled from your Medicare Advantage Plan and returned to Original Medicare.” The formulary is not a module you can swap later. Plus the full six-step order, the three things that quietly change the answer every January 1, and what to do when the two plans genuinely tie. Education, not advice, from Brian Penner.
Read →
Will My Doctor Be In-Network on My 2027 Medicare Plan?
Nobody can answer that in September, and the plan cannot either. A Medicare Advantage network is a stack of contracts between one specific plan and thousands of individual practices, renewing on their own calendar — so a September answer is either about this year's network or it is a guess. What you can do is prepare now and verify in October, when the Annual Notice of Change lands and next year's plan data goes public. Two words on the front of the card decide how much a mistake costs. On an HMO, Medicare.gov says you generally must get care from providers in the plan's network, and then the sentence that settles it: “If you get health care outside the plan's network, you may have to pay the full cost.” Not a higher share — the full cost. On a PPO you “can generally go to out-of-network providers for covered services, but you'll usually pay more,” and the provider must be participating in Medicare or accept assignment; 8 of the 16 Medicare Advantage prescription-drug plans CMS counted in Mesa County for 2026 were PPOs, so this is a live choice here. Behind both sits the option with no network at all: with Original Medicare “you can use any doctor or hospital that takes Medicare, anywhere in the U.S.” Then the line long-time members never read until it happens — networks are not frozen for the year you buy them. Medicare.gov: “If your doctor or other health care provider leaves the plan, your plan will notify you. You may choose another provider in the plan.” A notice and a replacement, not an exit. Plus the five-step order that actually works, the exact wording to use with a billing desk instead of “do you take Medicare Advantage,” the step Grand Valley residents skip most — checking the hospital and not just the clinic, across the four Medicare-certified facilities CMS lists here — and the January 1 to March 31 window that exists precisely so you do not have to rely on it. 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).