Three doors, all worth knowing. For free counseling on plans and enrollment, the Wyoming State Health Insurance Information Program (WSHIIP), run by Wyoming Senior Citizens, Inc., at 1-800-856-4398. For local services such as meals, rides, caregiver support, and in-home help, the Wyoming Department of Health's Aging Division at 1-800-442-2766 (the state has no regional Area Agencies on Aging, so the Aging Division and the senior center and providers in Lincoln County are the local network), Wyoming 2-1-1's resource line (dial 211 or 1-888-425-7138), or the national 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: 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. We check your coverage and tell you exactly what, if anything, you will owe before your first session.

Per CMS enrollment data for 2025, Lincoln County had 4,740 Medicare beneficiaries: 1,120 on Medicare Advantage plans (23.6%) and 3,620 on Original Medicare, with about 218 dual-eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. Understood Care advocates work with both: Original Medicare covers it, and we confirm Medicare Advantage coverage plan by plan before any work begins.

Per the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey, about 418 of Afton's 1,982 residents are 65 or older (21.1%), within a county of roughly 3,745 seniors (Lincoln 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 Star Valley Medical Center runs about 111 minutes; Wyoming's statewide median is 120 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 Afton as anywhere else in Wyoming's 23 counties. When the right specialist means hours on the road, an advocate you can reach without the trip is often the practical option; 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 Wyoming's programs, free WSHIIP counseling, the Medigap birthday rule, the Medicare Savings Programs, Medicaid home care through the Community Choices Waiver, Wyoming Home Services, and the local services that apply in Lincoln County.

Wyoming has not expanded Medicaid, so in-home care through Medicaid usually means the Community Choices Waiver, for people 65 and older, or 19 to 64 with a disability, whom a county public health nurse's LT-101 assessment finds need a nursing home level of care, within Medicaid's income and resource limits (Home and Community-Based Services Section: 1-800-510-0280). Through Participant-Direction, the waiver's self-directed option, participants hire their own caregiver; anyone legally authorized to make the participant's financial decisions, such as a guardian or financial power of attorney, cannot be the paid worker, and a spouse can be hired only under those conditions and when the circumstances make it necessary. For people who do not qualify for Medicaid, Wyoming Home Services, paid for by the state, brings in-home help to adults 18 and older on a sliding fee scale through one provider in each county, including Lincoln County. Wyoming has no PACE program; its only one, in Cheyenne, closed in 2020. To start, call the Aging Division at 1-800-442-2766. Families we serve in Jackson Hole & Western Wyoming use these programs. 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 Wyoming we are in-network for Original Medicare (traditional fee-for-service Medicare). Together that covers roughly 82% of Wyoming's Medicare beneficiaries. Market-share data: 2024. Plan networks change, so we confirm exactly what your plan covers before any work begins.