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 Newport News city pay $0. We confirm your exact coverage before your first session, and there are no surprise bills.

Per CMS enrollment data for 2025, Newport News city had 32,567 Medicare beneficiaries: 15,909 on Medicare Advantage plans (48.9%) and 16,658 on Original Medicare, with about 5,520 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 25,227 of Newport News's 184,774 residents are 65 or older (13.7%), within a county of roughly 25,227 seniors (Newport News city). 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 Riverside Regional Medical Center runs about 247 minutes, and local hospitals range 174 to 247 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 Newport News 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 Newport News city.

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 Hampton Roads 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.