For advisors, CPAs & attorneys
A Medicare specialist your clients can borrow
Your clients' Medicare decisions sit inside your financial plan — IRMAA on the conversions you recommend, HSA rules on the accounts you manage, enrollment windows on the retirement date you helped pick. Brian Penner handles the Medicare side, reports back with the client's permission, and leaves the plan yours. No cost to you or the client.
Where financial plans and Medicare collide
Five situations we see from advisors' clients again and again — each one a place where good financial advice can spring a Medicare leak.
| The situation | The Medicare exposure | What we do |
|---|---|---|
| A client is turning 65 | The Part B and Medigap windows are personal deadlines with lifetime consequences — the 6-month no-underwriting Medigap window opens once, and late-enrollment penalties are permanent. | We map every window to the client's actual dates, coordinate with employer coverage if they're still working, and document the plan back to you. |
| You're planning Roth conversions | A conversion is taxable income, and Medicare prices IRMAA off MAGI two years later — a surcharge cliff your projection may not show. | We model the premium impact of the conversion year against the 2026 thresholds before you execute, so the tax play doesn't leak out the Medicare side. |
| A client still contributes to an HSA past 65 | Enrolling in Medicare — or just claiming Social Security — can make months of HSA contributions retroactively excess, with a 6% excise tax that repeats. | We time the contribution stop against the retroactive Part A lookback and put the dates in writing for the client's payroll office. |
| A client is widowed | Income drops, but the IRMAA brackets drop further — the single-filer thresholds are half the joint ones, so the survivor can pay a higher premium on less income. | We review the survivor's Medicare pricing, check SSA-44 life-changing-event relief, and flag the Medigap implications before anything is cancelled. |
| A client retires from a public-sector job | PERA and URS/PEHP retirees face group-vs-individual choices with asymmetric re-entry rules that generic Medicare advice gets wrong. | We put the group plan's rate sheet beside the individual market and show the client which decisions are reversible — see our PERACare and PEHP guides. |
We publish our homework: see the Roth-conversion IRMAA guide, the widowed-client IRMAA guide, the PERACare comparison, and the URS/PEHP comparison.
How the referral works
- You introduce us — a warm email or a three-way call, whichever fits the client. Tell us the planning context you want us to know (a conversion schedule, a retirement date, a health concern).
- We meet the client — phone, video, or in person at our Grand Junction, Moab, or Monticello offices. We compare the plans we offer against the client's doctors, prescriptions, and travel, and we put every enrollment window on their calendar with dates.
- You get the summary — with the client's written permission: what was chosen, what it costs, and the dates that touch your plan (IRMAA years, window closes, ANOC season). One page, in the client's file.
- We stay on it — every fall we re-check the client's plan against the new year's landscape, and you both hear from us if something needs a decision.
Compensation is carrier-paid at standardized rates; premiums are identical with or without an agent, and no referral fees change hands in either direction. We're independent — not employed by any carrier — and we don't sell investments, so the advice boundary stays clean.
Advisor questions, answered
Why would a financial advisor partner with a Medicare specialist?
Because clients ask their advisor Medicare questions the advisor isn't licensed — or insured — to answer, and the questions sit exactly where financial plans get damaged: IRMAA surcharges triggered by Roth conversions and capital gains, HSA contributions that become retroactively taxable, one-time Medigap windows that close quietly, and late-enrollment penalties that never expire. A dedicated Medicare specialist lets the advisor keep ownership of the plan while handing the enrollment mechanics and plan comparison to someone who does them every day, in compliance with CMS marketing rules.
What does the partnership cost, and how is Brian compensated?
It costs you and your client nothing. Brian Penner is an independent licensed agent compensated by insurance carriers at standardized rates when a client enrolls in a plan — the client's premium is the same with or without an agent. We don't pay or accept referral fees for Medicare business; the relationship is reciprocal professional courtesy. We do not offer every plan available in a client's area, and any information we provide is limited to the plans we do offer; for a complete listing, clients can always use Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE.
How do you communicate with the referring advisor?
With the client's written permission, we report the outcome back to you — what was chosen and why, what it costs, which windows were used, and any dates that matter for your planning calendar (like the year an IRMAA surcharge will appear or fall off). No permission, no report; the client's privacy controls the channel. Most advisors want the one-page summary for the client file, and that's our default.
Which states and clients can you work with?
We're licensed in 18 states — the current list is on our license verification page — with offices in Grand Junction, Colorado and Moab and Monticello, Utah. The practice centers on Colorado's Western Slope and all of Utah, and we work by phone and video statewide in both, so a Salt Lake or Denver client is as workable as a local one. NPN 16493717, verifiable at nipr.com.
Do you sell annuities, life insurance, or investments to referred clients?
No. Referred clients come to us for Medicare — plan comparison, enrollment, and the coordination questions around it — and that's what we do. We're not investment advisors and don't offer securities or provide investment advice; the financial plan stays yours. That boundary is the point of the referral model: each professional does the thing they're licensed for.
Have a client with a Medicare question on your desk right now?
Call (970) 644-6954, or send us the situation and we'll tell you honestly whether it's something we can help with. Licensed in 18 states; offices in Grand Junction, Moab, and Monticello.
Medicare On Main is a licensed independent insurance agency. We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to the plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options. Not connected with or endorsed by the U.S. government or the federal Medicare program. Medicare On Main does not provide investment, tax, or legal advice; nothing on this page is a solicitation of securities business. This is education for professional partners — clients should confirm plans, costs, and eligibility with a licensed agent or Medicare.gov.