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 Oakland County pay $0. We confirm your exact coverage before your first session, and there are no surprise bills.

Per CMS enrollment data for 2025, Oakland County had 274,582 Medicare beneficiaries: 150,441 on Medicare Advantage plans (54.8%) and 124,140 on Original Medicare, with about 31,458 dual-eligible for both Medicare and Michigan 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 10,183 of Novi's 66,224 residents are 65 or older (15.4%), within a county of roughly 227,903 seniors (Oakland County). Most become Medicare-eligible at 65, and every one of them has the same federal benefits an advocate helps put to work.

Per CMS Timely & Effective Care data (period ending 09/30/2025), the median ER visit at Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak runs about 266 minutes, and local hospitals range 170 to 266 minutes; Michigan's statewide median is 158 minutes. An advocate cannot shorten an ER line, but avoiding the ER for non-emergencies is advocate work: same-week appointments, urgent-care routing, and follow-up coordination.

No. Understood Care is fully virtual, delivered by phone, video, and secure messaging, so it works the same in Novi as anywhere else in Michigan's 83 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 Michigan's programs, the state's federal Medigap timing (no birthday rule, plus a narrow under-65 disability Medigap mandate), MMAP counseling (Michigan's SHIP), the Medicare Savings Programs MDHHS runs with an income and asset test, and the Home Help and MI Choice paid-caregiving paths, plus the county services that apply in Oakland County.

Those run through MDHHS (Michigan's Medicaid), not Medicare. The Home Help program pays an authorized family caregiver, an adult child, another relative, or a trusted friend (but not a spouse), directly through MDHHS for personal care so a person can stay home; the MI Choice waiver is the broader home-and-community-based program for people who need a nursing-facility level of care, and its self-determination option can pay a spouse. Families we serve in Metro Detroit use both. Our advocacy is billed through Medicare, so for dual-eligible families the split works well: you run the caregiving and the Medicaid paperwork, and your parent's advocate handles the Medicare side.

In Michigan we are in-network for Original Medicare (traditional fee-for-service Medicare); UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans (~26% of Michigan MA members); Humana Medicare Advantage plans (~20% of Michigan MA members); Priority Health Medicare Advantage plans (~18% of Michigan MA members). Together that covers roughly 78% of Michigan'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.