Understood Care
Patient Advocacy Without the Call Center
One dedicated advocate for the bills, appeals, appointments, and paperwork. Fully virtual, serving all 62 New York counties, usually at $0 with Medicare.
Or call (646) 904-4027. We confirm your coverage before your first session.
Coverage data 2024. Plan networks change - we confirm exactly what your plan covers before any work begins.
Real patients and caregivers, nationwide and in New York: one dedicated advocate, reachable by phone and text. Read patient reviews
Patient advocate services
Understood Care's patient advocate services in New York are delivered by one dedicated healthcare advocate who does the work with you: makes the calls, files the paperwork, and stays on the case until it is resolved. Some families call this role a care navigator, a Medicare coordinator, or a caseworker; Medicare's own name for the covered benefit is Principal Illness Navigation. Whatever you call it, it is fully virtual and covered by Medicare for most members.
Line-by-line review of hospital and doctor bills, duplicate charges, balance-billing questions, and payment-plan negotiation.
Bill assistanceWhen Medicare or your plan says no: the appeal letter, the deadlines, the medical-necessity evidence, and the follow-up calls.
How appeals workGetting seen sooner, keeping specialists and primary care on the same page, and lining up a second opinion when it matters.
Appointment helpFormulary exceptions, Extra Help screening, manufacturer programs, and pharmacy switches that lower what you pay at the counter.
Lower medication costsMedicare Savings Programs, Extra Help, SNAP, utility and rent assistance: finding what you qualify for in New York and filing the paperwork.
Application helpDischarge planning, home health and equipment orders, caregiver support, and one person who keeps every provider informed.
Care coordination
Daniele Marsh Care Advocate Daniele works one-to-one with Medicare members on bills, denials, appointments, and benefits, and stays on the case until it is resolved.
Donald Washer Care Advocate One dedicated advocate with a direct phone and text line: Donald makes the calls and handles the paperwork so you do not have to.
Cheryl Strickland Care Advocate Cheryl helps patients and caregivers untangle Medicare, from a denied claim to a benefit nobody mentioned, with a check-in every week while a case is open.
All 62 incorporated New York cities plus the five boroughs, served virtually by the same advocates. Prefer the raw data? See New York Medicare by the numbers.
New York City · Brooklyn · Queens · Manhattan · The Bronx · Staten Island
Yonkers · Mount Vernon · New Rochelle · White Plains · Peekskill · Rye · Poughkeepsie · Beacon · Newburgh · Middletown · Port Jervis · Kingston
Albany · Cohoes · Watervliet · Troy · Rensselaer · Schenectady · Saratoga Springs · Mechanicville · Glens Falls · Hudson
Buffalo · Lackawanna · Tonawanda · Niagara Falls · North Tonawanda · Lockport · Dunkirk · Jamestown · Salamanca · Olean · Batavia
Rochester · Canandaigua · Geneva · Auburn
Utica · Rome · Sherrill · Little Falls · Amsterdam · Gloversville · Johnstown
Since January 2024, Medicare covers professional healthcare navigation (Principal Illness Navigation and Community Health Integration). Part B pays about 80%; a Medigap plan typically covers the rest, so most members pay $0.
Acceptance varies plan by plan. Tell us which plan you have (Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Humana, and others) and we confirm what it covers before any work begins. No surprise bills, ever.
That is a normal place to start. Read your red-white-and-blue card to us over the phone and we will explain your coverage in plain English, whether or not you sign up.
Medicare is federal, but the rules around it change at the state line. These four are specific to New York, and your advocate works with them every week.
New York law requires year-round continuous open enrollment and community rating for Medigap. Insurers must accept you in any month, and your premium cannot go up because of your age or health. Most states give one six-month window at 65; New Yorkers keep this right for life.
New York's Health Insurance Information, Counseling and Assistance Program runs a statewide helpline at 1-800-701-0501 (Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm) with 700+ trained counselors routed by county. Great for one-off enrollment questions; we point our own members there during Open Enrollment.
The Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage program lowers drug costs for New Yorkers 65+ with income up to $75,000 (single) or $100,000 (married), with copays from $3 to $20. Info line: 1-800-332-3742. Many eligible seniors have never heard of it.
New York's Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program lets family members be paid caregivers, now administered statewide through Public Partnerships LLC (PPL). It is a Medicaid program; for dual-eligible families we handle the Medicare side while you run the caregiving. See our guides below.
You are matched with one dedicated advocate and get their direct phone, email, and text. No call queue, no starting over. Even months after your case wraps up, the same person picks up.
Behind your advocate, AI tools surface the New York programs and benefits you actually qualify for, from EPIC to county services, so answers come faster. A human stays in the loop on every case.
While your case is active you hear from your advocate every 7 days. After it is resolved, they still check in every month. You are never left wondering what is happening.
Researched, sourced, and kept current for New York families:
How CDPAP and Medicare fit together for New York families.
Eligibility, choosing your caregiver, and how to apply.
Current PPL pay rates by region, explained in plain English.
Registration, payroll, and what to do when the transition breaks something.
Who qualifies, the Fee vs Deductible plans, and how EPIC stacks with Part D.
Continuous open enrollment and community rating, and when switching pays.
Step-by-step help to cut medical costs using charity care, No Surprises Act protections, Medicaid, Medicare Savings Programs, Extra Help, LIHEAP, and Lifeline.
Read more
Find out how healthcare advocates help Medicare patients secure rent, housing, and utility assistance to stay healthy.
Read more
SSBCI eligibility explained: what “high risk of hospitalization” means for Medicare Advantage benefits.
Read moreThe same Medicare-covered service, with each state's own programs and rules explained.
More than 3.5 million New Yorkers are on Medicare, and the system is not
getting simpler. Wherever you live in the state, your advocate is a phone
call away, and the first conversation costs nothing.
Yes. Since January 2024, Medicare pays for professional healthcare navigation through Principal Illness Navigation and Community Health Integration services. Medicare Part B covers about 80% of the cost, and a supplemental (Medigap) plan typically covers the rest, so most New York members pay $0. We confirm exactly what your coverage looks like before your first session, and there are no surprise bills.
Yes, all 62 counties. The service is fully virtual, delivered by phone, video, and secure messaging, so it works the same in Brooklyn, Buffalo, the Bronx, Long Island, Westchester, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, and every rural county in between. There is no office to travel to.
Advocates work virtually and are matched to you, not to a zip code. What matters is that your advocate is the same person every time (One Advocate, For Life), knows New York's programs like HIICAP, EPIC, and CDPAP, and gives you their direct phone, email, and text, so you never start over with a stranger in a call queue.
CDPAP is a New York Medicaid program (administered statewide through Public Partnerships LLC), and many families we serve use it. Our advocacy is billed through Medicare, so we focus on the Medicare side: bills, appeals, appointments, coverage questions. For dual-eligible families, that split works well: you manage the CDPAP caregiving, and your parent's advocate handles the Medicare paperwork. Our CDPAP guides below answer the most common questions, including pay rates.
Yes. New York is one of the very few states with year-round continuous open enrollment and community rating for Medigap by state law. Insurers must accept your application any month of the year, and your premium cannot be raised because of your age or health. Most states only give you one six-month window at 65; New Yorkers keep the right for life. An advocate can help you compare plans before you switch.
HIICAP is New York's free Medicare counseling program (1-800-701-0501), and it is excellent for one-off questions. Understood Care is different: a dedicated advocate who does the work itself, makes the calls, files the appeals, untangles the bills, and stays with you month after month, covered by Medicare. The two are complementary, and we often point members to HIICAP counselors for enrollment-season plan comparisons.
In New York we are in-network for Original Medicare (traditional fee-for-service Medicare); UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans (~29% of New York MA members); Aetna Medicare Advantage plans (~12% of New York MA members). Together that covers roughly 69.2% of New York'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.
Program facts on this page were last verified on 2026-07-18 against: NY State Office for the Aging (HIICAP), NY State Department of Health (EPIC), Medicare Rights Center (New York Medigap rules), and CMS (2024 Physician Fee Schedule: navigation services). Understood Care is an independent private advocacy service and is not affiliated with any government agency, HIICAP, or EPIC.
