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

Per CMS enrollment data for 2025, Fairfax County had 181,174 Medicare beneficiaries: 57,264 on Medicare Advantage plans (31.6%) and 123,911 on Original Medicare, with about 15,761 dual-eligible for both Medicare and Virginia 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 7,028 of Annandale's 41,982 residents are 65 or older (16.7%), within a county of roughly 166,297 seniors (Fairfax 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 Inova Fair Oaks Hospital runs about 172 minutes, and local hospitals range 132 to 172 minutes; Virginia's statewide median is 162 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 Annandale as anywhere else in Virginia's 95 counties and 38 independent cities. 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 Virginia's programs, the state's Medigap timing (the birthday rule effective July 1, 2025, a 60-day window each year from your birthday, plus an under-65 disability Medigap protection at the same premium a 65-year-old pays), VICAP counseling (Virginia's free Insurance Counseling and Assistance Program), the Medicare Savings Programs the Department of Medical Assistance Services runs with an income and asset test, and the Commonwealth Coordinated Care Plus Waiver paid-caregiving path, plus the county and city services that apply in Fairfax County.

Those run through Cardinal Care (Virginia Medicaid), not Medicare. Virginia's Commonwealth Coordinated Care Plus Waiver is consumer-directed: an eligible person hires and directs their own attendant, and that attendant can be an adult child or another relative, so a person can stay home instead of entering a nursing facility. Since July 1, 2025, a legally responsible individual (a spouse, or the parent of a minor) may also be paid, but only for 'extraordinary' care and up to 40 hours a week. Families we serve in Northern Virginia use this pathway alongside Medicare. 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 Virginia we are in-network for Original Medicare (traditional fee-for-service Medicare); UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans (~25% of Virginia MA members); Aetna Medicare Advantage plans (~12% of Virginia MA members). Together that covers roughly 75.1% of Virginia's Medicare beneficiaries. Market-share data: 2025. Plan networks change, so we confirm exactly what your plan covers before any work begins - no surprise bills.