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Independent, Central Indiana

Every Medicare decision you face, indexed.

Thirteen panels below. Coverage routes, the money rules, the deadlines, and the small print that decides your bill. Read one, or call and we will read it with you.

Advisors
Licensed in Indiana
Service areas
6 across 5 counties
Carriers
8 compared
Your cost
$0, always
Speak to an advisorOpen the index
Beacon advisor reviewing Medicare options with a retired couple

When can I enroll?

Pick your birth month and year to see your 7-month window.

Your enrollment window
March 1, 2027 to September 30, 2027
Sign up by
May 31, 2027 for coverage on June 1, 2027
Medigap open enrollment
June 1, 2027 to November 30, 2027

Turning-65 checklist

Estimate based on Social Security rules. Confirm your dates with SSA or a licensed advisor.

Panel index

Thirteen panels. Start anywhere.

01 Coverage routesAll six guides

Six routes through Medicare

  1. Original MedicarePart A hospital insurance and Part B medical insurance, run by the federal government.
  2. Medicare AdvantagePart C plans from private carriers that bundle hospital, medical and usually drug coverage.
  3. Medicare SupplementMedigap policies that pay some or all of the costs Original Medicare leaves behind.
  4. Part D drug plansStand-alone prescription drug coverage to pair with Original Medicare and a Supplement.
  5. Special Needs PlansAdvantage plans built for people with Medicaid, chronic conditions or long-term care needs.
  6. Dental, vision and hearingCoverage for the routine care Original Medicare generally does not pay for.

Compare all three main routes in one table

02 The four parts

Four parts, one system

Part A: Hospital insurance

Covers inpatient stays, skilled nursing after a qualifying stay, hospice and some home health care. Most people pay no premium because they paid Medicare taxes while working.

  • Inpatient hospital stays
  • Skilled nursing, up to 100 days
  • Hospice care
  • Home health services

$0 premium for most. $1,736 deductible per benefit period (2026 sample).

Read the Part A guide
03 Extra Help & MSPsSample Indiana limits

The subsidy most people never claim

Extra Help is the federal subsidy that pays most of a Part D drug plan for people with limited income and resources. Around one Medicare household in four qualifies, and a large share of them never apply, usually because nobody told them the programme exists.

You are deemed eligible automatically if

  • You have full Indiana Medicaid, including Hoosier Care Connect or PathWays for Aging.
  • You receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) from Social Security.
  • You are enrolled in a Medicare Savings Program: QMB, SLMB or QI.

What the subsidy actually pays

  • The Part D premiumPaid in full up to the Indiana regional benchmark amount. Choose a plan priced above the benchmark and you pay only the difference, not the whole premium.
  • The Part D deductibleWaived entirely. You start at the capped copay on day one instead of paying the first $615 of drug costs yourself (sample).
  • Copays, capped by lawAbout $4.90 for a generic and $12.15 for a covered brand-name drug, then $0 once your out-of-pocket spending reaches the catastrophic threshold (sample).
  • The late enrollment penaltyThe 1%-per-month Part D penalty is removed while you hold Extra Help, and those months do not come back to be charged later.
  • An extra chance to change plansGaining, losing or changing Extra Help opens a Special Enrollment Period you can use once in each of the first three quarters of the year.
  • Any network pharmacyThe capped copay applies at every pharmacy in the plan's network, and a 90-day or mail-order supply still works the way it normally would.

The four Medicare Savings Programs Sample 2026 limits

  • QMB
    Qualified Medicare Beneficiary

    Part A and Part B premiums, plus deductibles, coinsurance and copays. A provider may not bill you for the balance.

    The broadest of the four. People with QMB pay close to nothing out of pocket for Medicare-covered care.

    Income limitUp to about $1,325 a month single, $1,783 a couple (sample)

  • SLMB
    Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary

    The Part B premium only, which puts roughly $203 a month back into a Social Security payment (sample).

    For people just above the QMB line. Deductibles and coinsurance stay yours to pay.

    Income limitAbout $1,326 to $1,585 a month single (sample)

  • QI
    Qualifying Individual

    The Part B premium only. It is funded by a fixed block grant, so it is granted first come, first served each year.

    You cannot hold QI and full Medicaid at once. Reapply early every January.

    Income limitAbout $1,586 to $1,781 a month single (sample)

  • QDWI
    Qualified Disabled and Working Individual

    The Part A premium, for people under 65 who returned to work and lost premium-free Part A.

    Rare and frequently missed. Worth checking for anyone under 65 who went back to work after a disability.

    Income limitUp to about $5,300 a month single (sample)

Indiana counts income and resources differently from most states and disregards the first portion of earned income, so apply even if you think you are slightly over. Limits shown are demo figures.

Where each application goes

  • Extra HelpApply to Social Security, online at ssa.gov, by phone or at the Indianapolis field office. There is no cost and no agent involved.
  • A Savings ProgramApply to Indiana Medicaid through the FSSA Division of Family Resources. Approval deems you for Extra Help automatically.
  • Both, in either orderThey are separate applications with different agencies. Most people who qualify for one qualify for the other, so file both.
04 Special Needs PlansFull SNP guide

D-SNP, C-SNP, I-SNP, and who actually qualifies

  • D-SNP

    Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan

    You hold Medicare and Indiana Medicaid at the same time, either full benefits or a Medicare Savings Program.

    How it is proved. The plan checks your Medicaid status with the state every month. Lose Medicaid and you get a grace period, usually six months, before the plan has to disenroll you.

    • Care coordination that speaks to both programs instead of one
    • Highly integrated (HIDE) and fully integrated (FIDE) versions merge the two cards
    • Full-benefit duals in an integrated plan may switch monthly; other duals get one switch in each of the first three quarters
  • C-SNP

    Chronic Condition Special Needs Plan

    You live with one of the 15 severe or disabling chronic conditions CMS approves, such as diabetes, chronic heart failure, COPD, end-stage renal disease or dementia.

    How it is proved. A physician has to verify the condition. A plan may enroll you first and confirm afterwards, but coverage ends if that verification never arrives.

    • Formularies and specialist networks built around the condition
    • Condition-specific supplies, care teams and lower copays on the drugs that treat it
    • A Special Enrollment Period opens when a qualifying diagnosis is confirmed
  • I-SNP

    Institutional Special Needs Plan

    You have lived, or are expected to live, 90 days or longer in a nursing facility, assisted living or a similar setting.

    How it is proved. A state-approved assessment confirms you need an institutional level of care, and it is repeated on the plan's schedule.

    • Nurse practitioners who round in the building instead of in a clinic
    • The institutional-equivalent version covers that level of care at home
    • Care plans written with facility staff, family and the attending physician
  • Drug coverage is never optionalEvery Special Needs Plan includes Part D. You cannot pair one with a stand-alone drug plan, and joining one would drop you out of the SNP.
  • A model of care CMS approvesEach SNP files a Model of Care scored by NCQA: who the plan is for, who sits on the care team, and how transitions between settings are handled.
  • A health risk assessmentWithin 90 days of enrollment, and again every year, the plan must complete an assessment and build an individual care plan from it.
  • You can stop qualifyingLosing Medicaid, leaving a facility, or a condition that cannot be verified all end eligibility. The plan must notify you and give you a window to move.
05 Network checkBefore you sign, not after

A directory listing is a lead, not a guarantee

  1. Write down the plan's full name and its ID

    Not the carrier, the plan. Each one carries a contract and benefit package number that looks like H1234-001. Two plans from the same carrier in the same county can hold different networks.

  2. Search the directory for next year, not this one

    Use the directory for the plan year you will actually be in. Note the address beside each name, because a doctor can be in network at one location and out at another.

  3. Call the billing office, not the front desk

    Ask the billing office in these words: are you contracted with this plan, under this contract number, for the 2026 plan year? Front desk staff often answer for the carrier instead of the plan.

  4. Check the hospital, lab and imaging separately

    A contracted physician can admit to a hospital that is not contracted and send blood work to a lab that is not either. Each one bills you on its own network status.

  5. Ask what needs a referral or prior authorization

    In network is not the same as reachable. HMO plans usually need a referral, and imaging, surgery, infusions and skilled nursing often need prior authorization even in network.

  6. Call the plan last and get a reference number

    Repeat what the office told you, then write down the representative's name, the date and the call reference. That note is what you use if a claim is denied later.

Networks change during the year

A provider can leave a Medicare Advantage network mid-year. You are usually offered continuity of care for a course of treatment already under way, and if CMS calls the change significant it can open a Special Enrollment Period.

Directories are known to be wrong

CMS audits Medicare Advantage directories and keeps finding listed providers who do not accept the plan, sit at the wrong address, or retired. A directory entry is a lead, not a guarantee.

Original Medicare has no network to check

With Parts A and B plus a Supplement, any provider in the country who accepts Medicare assignment takes your coverage. Nothing needs verifying each year. That is the trade you make on premium.

07 Beacon, in figures

Small firm, long memory

client reviews, 4.9 average (sample)
1,284
years advising Central Indiana
15
carriers compared, none of them ours
8
cost to you, before or after enrolling
$0
08 Free seminars

Medicare 101 at your library

  • 29SepMedicare 101: Parts A, B, C and DIndianapolis Public Library, Central
  • 08OctWhat changes for 2027: Annual Enrollment prepCarmel Clay Public Library
  • 14OctPart D check-up: bring your drug listLive video session

Seminar calendar

09 Benefit periodsPart A, skilled nursing

Sixty days of quiet is what ends a benefit period

A benefit period is the unit Medicare actually bills in, and almost nobody arrives at the hospital knowing that. It is not a calendar year, it has no fixed length, and it decides whether a rehab stay costs you nothing or seventeen thousand dollars.

  1. Hospital days 1 to 60You pay$1,736 deductible, then $0 a day (sample)

    The benefit period opens

    A benefit period starts the day you are admitted as an inpatient. The Part A deductible is charged once per benefit period, not once per year, so a second admission months later can mean paying it a second time.

  2. Skilled nursing days 1 to 20You pay$0 a day

    Rehabilitation at no daily cost

    Medicare pays in full for skilled nursing or rehabilitation in a Medicare-certified facility, as long as a doctor has ordered it and you need skilled care daily. Room, meals, therapy and medications are all included.

  3. Skilled nursing days 21 to 100You pay$217 a day (sample)

    Daily coinsurance begins

    Eighty days at that rate is about $17,360. Supplement Plan G and Plan N both pay this coinsurance in full. Medicare Advantage plans replace it with their own daily copay schedule, which usually starts earlier than day 21.

  4. After day 100, and the 60-day resetYou payAll costs

    Coverage stops until the clock resets

    Part A covers no further skilled nursing days in that benefit period. The period only ends once you have gone 60 days in a row with no inpatient hospital and no skilled nursing care. Then a new period, and a new deductible, can begin.

The 3-day rule, and why an overnight stay might not count

  • Three midnights, admittedOriginal Medicare pays for skilled nursing only after a hospital stay of at least three consecutive days as an admitted inpatient. The day you are discharged does not count toward the three.
  • Observation status is outpatientA night spent under observation is billed under Part B, not Part A, and counts for nothing toward the three days, however many nights it runs.
  • You must be told in writingA hospital has to hand you the Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice, the MOON, within 36 hours of starting observation services and explain it out loud. Ask for it if it does not appear.
  • Most Advantage plans waive itMany Medicare Advantage plans drop the three-day requirement, then replace it with prior authorization and their own review of whether skilled care is still needed. Read the Evidence of Coverage before assuming either way.
  • Getting better is not the testCoverage does not depend on improvement. Under the Jimmo settlement, skilled care given to maintain your condition or slow a decline can be covered, and a denial that says you have plateaued can be appealed.
11 Client reviews

4.9 out of 5 from 1,284 reviews (sample)

What Central Indiana says

Turning 65

Marcus sorted out my husband's retiree plan and my Part B date in one visit. We had been dreading this for months.

Carol BrandtCarmel, August 2026
Part D

Priya ran my nine prescriptions through every plan and found one that saves me about $1,100 a year at the same Kroger.

Ronald WhitakerGreenwood, January 2026
Advantage

Denise checked my cardiologist and my eye doctor before anything else. No pressure, just a clear side-by-side.

Yolanda PierceIrvington, December 2025
Special Needs

Luis explained my mother's D-SNP in Spanish and helped set up her rides to dialysis. Very patient with our questions.

Tomás HerreraSpeedway, March 2026
Supplement

Showed me the rate history for each Plan G carrier. I picked the second-cheapest because its increases were steadier.

Jan KowalczykFishers, June 2026
Turning 65

The birth-month calculator got me started and the advisor call filled in the rest. Took two calls instead of one, but thorough.

Beverly OnyangoLawrence, May 2026
Supplement

Grace called the union benefits office with me so I would not lose my retiree dental. That alone was worth it.

Harold SimmonsAnderson, February 2026
Advantage

Clear, calm and honest. They told me my current plan was still the best fit and did not try to switch me.

Linda NguyenNoblesville, November 2025

Read all client reviews

13 Who answersAbout Beacon

Licensed, local, and reachable by name

Tree-lined residential street in Central Indiana

Where we work

Five counties, one local team

We meet at our Meridian Street office, at your kitchen table, at a library near you, or on video. Whichever is easiest on the day.

Talk to a person

One plain-English call

Bring your doctors, your prescriptions and your pharmacy. A licensed Beacon advisor compares what we offer in your ZIP code against all of it, and tells you plainly when the better fit is something we do not sell.

(317) 555-0132

TTY 711. Calls are recorded, as CMS requires.

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Office hours
Mon - Fri8:00 am - 6:00 pmSaturday9:00 am - 1:00 pmOct 15 - Dec 7Extended to 8:00 pm
Downtown office
320 N Meridian St, Suite 810
Indianapolis, IN 46204
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