Understood Care
Coverage data 2024. Plan networks change - we confirm exactly what your plan covers before any work begins.
Makenna Cardona Care Advocate One dedicated advocate with a direct phone and text line: Makenna makes the calls and handles the paperwork so you do not have to.
Carolina Rees Care Advocate Carolina helps patients and caregivers untangle Medicare, from a denied claim to a benefit nobody mentioned, with a check-in every week while a case is open.
Holly Sanford Care Advocate From the first call, Holly is the same person every time: no call center, no starting over, and no surprise bills.
Free SHIP counseling, Medicaid waivers that pay family caregivers, and Medicare Savings Programs in Kentucky. Call 1-877-293-7447 to get started.
Across Northern Kentucky, care leans on St. Elizabeth Healthcare's Edgewood, Covington, Florence, and Fort Thomas hospitals, and many families cross the river into the Cincinnati systems, so coordinating referrals and untangling out-of-network bills is everyday work. Understood Care is a virtual service: phone, video, and secure messaging. For Erlanger members that means no waiting room and no travel, whether the problem is a confusing hospital bill, a denied claim, a referral that went nowhere, or a parent in Kenton County who needs someone watching their whole picture. Your advocate is the same person every time, follows up every 7 days while your case is active, and still checks in monthly after it is resolved. Many Northern Kentucky families also run Kentucky Medicaid's Home and Community Based Waiver and PACE programs alongside Medicare; we handle the Medicare side.
About 14.6% of Erlanger residents are 65+, close to Kentucky's statewide 17%. Of the 32,320 Medicare beneficiaries in Kenton County, 56% were on Medicare Advantage plans in 2025, in line with Kentucky's 54.4%. About 3,826 neighbors are dual-eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, the group Kentucky's HCB Waiver and PACE families know well.
Of 8 Medicare-certified homes, 4 rate 4+ CMS stars and 2 rate just 1 star, a spread an advocate helps families navigate. Highest-rated nearby:
About 670 Erlanger households are a person 65+ living alone, and that is exactly who a dedicated advocate keeps from falling through the cracks. 5.1% of senior households here have no vehicle (about 88 households), which is why a fully virtual advocate, plus Medicare-covered ride benefits where plans include them, matters. Setting up home care, meal delivery, and transportation is core advocate work, covered by Medicare.
About 6.8% of Erlanger seniors live below the poverty line (Kentucky: 12.3%), and many more qualify for help they never claim: Extra Help with Part D costs and the Medicare Savings Programs. Checking every one of those is standard advocate work. 28.5% of seniors here live with a disability, where equipment orders and prior authorizations pile up fastest. Specialized care nearby: 2 Medicare-certified dialysis facilities (avg 3/5 CMS stars) and 1 hospice provider.
Erlanger, Kentucky · Kenton County · served virtually statewide
From CMS Care Compare (2 Medicare-certified hospitals in the area; a sample below). Billing disputes, discharge planning, and referral follow-ups with these systems are everyday advocate work:
Medigap in Kentucky is unusually strong. On top of the standard six-month Open Enrollment window at 65, House Bill 345 (KRS 304.14-525, effective January 1, 2024) requires every insurer to offer all of its Medigap plans to beneficiaries who qualify for Medicare under 65 through disability or ESRD, with no underwriting and a premium capped at the weighted average of the insurer's 65-and-older rates, and it added a yearly birthday rule: 60 days after your birthday to switch to another insurer's version of the same plan, guaranteed issue. Kentucky SHIP, the state's free Medicare counseling service run by the Department for Aging and Independent Living and reachable at 1-877-293-7447, gives commission-free help to Erlanger residents. Many Erlanger seniors also qualify for Extra Help and the Medicare Savings Programs but never claim them. The full, sourced rundown is on our Kentucky patient advocacy hub.
Kentucky's Home and Community Based (HCB) Waiver lets Medicaid families age 65 and older stay home instead of a nursing facility, and its Participant Directed Services option can pay a worker you choose and supervise, including an adult family member such as an adult child (an immediate family member, spouse, or other legally responsible individual only with written state approval), while their parent's Medicare paperwork piles up. PACE does the same for adults 55 and older who need that level of care, with several programs now serving Kentucky by county. That split is exactly where an advocate fits: you handle the caregiving, we handle the Medicare side. See how the HCB Waiver, PACE, and Medicare fit together on our Kentucky hub.
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Three doors, all worth knowing. For free, unbiased counseling on plans and enrollment, Kentucky SHIP (the State Health Insurance Assistance Program), run by the Kentucky Department for Aging and Independent Living, at 1-877-293-7447 (or the national SHIP line at 1-877-839-2675). For local services such as meals, rides, and in-home help, your Area Agency on Aging and Independent Living serves Erlanger; find it through the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116. And for one dedicated advocate who does the ongoing work with you, bills, denials, appointments, and benefits, Understood Care, covered by Medicare for most members and usually $0: call (646) 904-4027 or get started online.
Yes. Medicare has paid for professional healthcare navigation (Principal Illness Navigation and Community Health Integration services) since January 2024. Part B covers about 80% and a Medigap plan typically covers the rest, so most members in Kenton County pay $0. We confirm your exact coverage before your first session, and there are no surprise bills.
Per CMS enrollment data for 2025, Kenton County had 32,320 Medicare beneficiaries: 18,086 on Medicare Advantage plans (56%) and 14,234 on Original Medicare, with about 3,826 dual-eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. Understood Care advocates work with both: Original Medicare members usually pay $0 through Part B plus a supplement, and we confirm Medicare Advantage coverage plan by plan before any work begins.
Per the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey, about 2,870 of Erlanger's 19,677 residents are 65 or older (14.6%), within a county of roughly 26,080 seniors (Kenton County). Most become Medicare-eligible at 65, and every one of them has the same federal benefits an advocate helps put to work.
No. Understood Care is fully virtual, delivered by phone, video, and secure messaging, so it works the same in Erlanger as anywhere else in Kentucky's 120 counties. If leaving home is hard, that is exactly the situation the service is built for.
Advocates work virtually and are matched to you, not to a zip code. You get one dedicated advocate with their direct phone, email, and text (One Advocate, For Life), and they work with Kentucky's programs, Kentucky SHIP counseling, the Medicare Savings Programs, the Home and Community Based (HCB) Waiver, and PACE, and the county services that apply in Kenton County.
Those are Kentucky Medicaid programs. The Home and Community Based (HCB) Waiver helps Kentuckians 65 and older (and adults with physical disabilities) who meet a nursing-facility level of care stay home with in-home support; its Participant Directed Services (PDS) option lets you recruit, hire, and supervise your own worker, including an adult family member such as an adult child, while an immediate family member, spouse, or other legally responsible individual can be paid only with written state approval under limited conditions. PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) bundles all care for adults 55 and older who need that level of care, and Kentucky now has several PACE programs serving different county groups. Families we serve in Northern Kentucky use them. Our advocacy is billed through Medicare, so for dual-eligible families the split works well: you run the caregiving, and your parent's advocate handles the Medicare side.
In Kentucky we are in-network for Original Medicare (traditional fee-for-service Medicare); Humana Medicare Advantage plans (~41% of Kentucky MA members); UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans (~14% of Kentucky MA members); Aetna Medicare Advantage plans (~7% of Kentucky MA members). Together that covers roughly 79.6% of Kentucky's Medicare beneficiaries. Market-share data: 2024. Plan networks change, so we confirm exactly what your plan covers before any work begins - no surprise bills.
Northern Kentucky
Covington · Independence · Fort Mitchell · Edgewood · Elsmere · Florence · Newport · Fort Thomas · All of Kentucky
Local figures: US Census Bureau American Community Survey (2023, 5-year), CMS Medicare Monthly Enrollment (2025), and CMS Care Compare, retrieved 2026-09-10. Statewide program facts were last verified on 2026-09-10; sources are listed on the Kentucky hub, and the full county tables are on Kentucky Medicare by the numbers. Understood Care is an independent private advocacy service and is not affiliated with any government agency or any hospital named above.