What does Understood Care do?

Understood Care provides one-to-one patient advocacy for Medicare members and caregivers, including help with benefits, appointments, care coordination, medical bills, insurance questions, denials, and paperwork.

How can a patient advocate help with Georgia Patient Advocates | Covered by Medicare?

Understood Care advocates help with georgia patient advocates | covered by medicare by explaining options, organizing paperwork, coordinating care, and helping families understand Medicare coverage and next steps.

Does Understood Care work with Medicare patients?

Yes. Understood Care focuses on Medicare patients and their families, with advocates who understand Medicare, Medicare Advantage, care coordination, coverage rules, billing issues, and appeal pathways.

Will I have a dedicated patient advocate?

Yes. This is Understood Care's first commitment: One Advocate, For Life. Every patient is matched at intake with one dedicated patient advocate and given that advocate's personal phone number, email, and text. Patients do not go into a call queue. The assignment is permanent: even after Understood Care has completed all tasks for a patient, they keep the same advocate. If a patient needs us again six months later, they will still have the same advocate.

How often will my Understood Care advocate communicate with me?

Understood Care follows a frequent-communication procedure with both active and follow-up patients. While the advocate is actively working on a patient's case, they communicate every 7 days by phone, text, or email with progress information. Once the patient has been helped with everything they needed, the case moves to a follow-up cadence: the advocate still checks in every month.

Does Understood Care use AI?

Yes. Understood Care is AI-supported. AI tools help every advocate surface programs, benefits, and services tied to where the patient lives, with the most up-to-date eligibility information. The result is that patients and advocates get the resources they need faster, while the human advocate stays in the loop on every patient's case.

Georgia Patient Advocates | Covered by Medicare

Cities we serve

Georgia Cities We Serve

The state's major metros and regional hubs, 50 cities across every corner of Georgia, served virtually by the same advocates. Prefer the raw data? See Georgia Medicare by the numbers.

Am I covered?

How Medicare Pays for Your Advocate in Georgia

Original Medicare

Since January 2024, Medicare covers professional healthcare navigation (Principal Illness Navigation and Community Health Integration). Part B pays about 80%; a Medigap plan typically covers the rest, so most members pay $0.

Medicare Advantage

A majority of Georgia's Medicare beneficiaries, 55.4% in 2025, are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan rather than Original Medicare. Acceptance varies plan by plan. Tell us which plan you have and we confirm what it covers before any work begins. No surprise bills, ever.

Not sure what you have?

That is a normal place to start. Read your red-white-and-blue card to us over the phone and we will explain your coverage in plain English, whether or not you sign up.

Georgia is different

Four Georgia Rules and Programs Worth Knowing

Medicare is federal, but the rules and assistance programs around it change at the state line. These four are specific to Georgia, and your advocate works with them every week.

Medigap: one window at 65, and nothing above the federal floor

Georgia's Medicare supplement regulation ties your six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period to the first month you are both 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. There is no year-round switching, no annual window, and no birthday rule. Miss it and insurers can medically underwrite you. Georgia also adds nothing for people who came onto Medicare early: the state rule says nothing about beneficiaries under 65 with a disability or ESRD, so unlike the many states that mandate at least one plan for under-65 beneficiaries, insurers here are not required to sell them a policy before they turn 65. Timing is the whole game, which is exactly where an advocate earns their keep.

Georgia SHIP (GeorgiaCares): free state Medicare counseling

Georgia's State Health Insurance Assistance Program, branded Georgia SHIP by the Division of Aging Services and still called GeorgiaCares almost everywhere else, delivers free one-on-one Medicare counseling through the state's 12 Area Agencies on Aging. Statewide line: 1-866-552-4464 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm Eastern). Great for one-off enrollment questions; we point our own members there during Open Enrollment.

Extra Help and the Medicare Savings Programs

Georgia has no state drug-assistance program, but many Georgians qualify for federal Extra Help (the Part D Low-Income Subsidy) and for the Medicare Savings Programs, which Georgia Medicaid runs as QMB, SLMB, QI, and QDWI. Apply through Georgia Gateway (gateway.ga.gov), your county DFCS office, or 1-877-423-4746. Checking every one of these is standard advocate work, and most eligible seniors never claim them.

CCSP, SOURCE, and Structured Family Caregiving (Medicaid)

Georgia's Medicaid alternative to a nursing facility runs through two waivers: CCSP, now the Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program, and SOURCE, which adds primary-care case management. Both are administered by the Division of Aging Services through the same Area Agencies on Aging. Structured Family Caregiving sits inside them and supports a live-in family caregiver, with eligibility contingent on an unpaid family caregiver in the home and an assessed need for at least five hours of personal support a day. These are Medicaid programs; for dual-eligible families we handle the Medicare side while you run the caregiving.

Go deeper

Medicare Help in Georgia: GeorgiaCares, SFC, and CCSP Waivers

The full, sourced guide to the Georgia rules and programs your advocate works with.

How we work

Three Commitments, Kept in Writing

One Advocate, For Life

You are matched with one dedicated advocate and get their direct phone, email, and text. No call queue, no starting over. Even months after your case wraps up, the same person picks up.

AI-Supported, Human-Delivered

Behind your advocate, AI tools surface the Georgia programs and benefits you actually qualify for, from the Medicare Savings Programs to county services, so answers come faster. A human stays in the loop on every case.

The 7-Day / 30-Day Cadence

While your case is active you hear from your advocate every 7 days. After it is resolved, they still check in every month. You are never left wondering what is happening.

Georgia Questions, Answered

Does Medicare cover a patient advocate in Georgia?

Yes. Since January 2024, Medicare pays for professional healthcare navigation through Principal Illness Navigation and Community Health Integration services. Medicare Part B covers about 80% of the cost, and a supplemental (Medigap) plan typically covers the rest, so most Georgia members pay $0. We confirm exactly what your coverage looks like before your first session, and there are no surprise bills.

Do you serve all of Georgia?

Yes, all 159 counties, the second-highest county count of any state. The service is fully virtual, delivered by phone, video, and secure messaging, so it works the same in Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Macon, Savannah, Athens, the North Georgia mountains, and every rural county in between. There is no office to travel to.

Will my advocate actually be based in Georgia?

Advocates work virtually and are matched to you, not to a zip code. What matters is that your advocate is the same person every time (One Advocate, For Life), knows Georgia's programs like Georgia SHIP, the Medicare Savings Programs, and the CCSP and SOURCE waivers, and gives you their direct phone, email, and text, so you never start over with a stranger in a call queue.

Can I switch my Medigap plan any time in Georgia?

No. Georgia follows the federal rule and adds nothing on top of it. The state's Medicare supplement regulation ties your one guaranteed six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period to the first month you are both 65 or older and enrolled in Part B, and Georgia has no year-round switching, no annual window, and no birthday rule. The regulation is also silent on beneficiaries under 65 who qualify through disability or ESRD, so unlike the many states that require insurers to offer at least one plan to under-65 beneficiaries, Georgia does not require insurers to sell them a policy before they turn 65. Because everything here turns on timing, this is exactly where an advocate helps.

Can you help with CCSP, SOURCE, and Structured Family Caregiving?

Those are Georgia Medicaid programs. CCSP (now the Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program) and SOURCE pay for in-home care instead of a nursing facility, and Structured Family Caregiving supports a live-in family caregiver through those same waivers. Our advocacy is billed through Medicare, so we focus on the Medicare side: bills, appeals, appointments, coverage questions. For dual-eligible families that split works well: you manage the waiver caregiving, and your parent's advocate handles the Medicare paperwork.

What is the difference between Understood Care and Georgia SHIP?

Georgia SHIP, which most counsellors and county offices still call GeorgiaCares (1-866-552-4464), is the state's free Medicare counseling program, delivered through Georgia's 12 Area Agencies on Aging, and it is excellent for one-off questions. Understood Care is different: a dedicated advocate who does the work itself, makes the calls, files the appeals, untangles the bills, and stays with you month after month, covered by Medicare. The two are complementary, and we often point our own members to Georgia SHIP counselors for enrollment-season plan comparisons.

Georgia Patient Advocates, Covered by Medicare

Georgia Cities We Serve

Metro Atlanta

North Georgia

West Georgia

Middle Georgia

East Georgia

Coastal Georgia

South Georgia