Medicare Advantage
Part C plans that bundle your hospital, medical and usually drug coverage into one plan, often with extras. Network and formulary are everything — we check both against your actual doctors and prescriptions.
Advantage plansGarrettsville, Ohio · Twelve Northeast Ohio counties
Medicare is confusing. Talking to me is not.
I am an independent agent specializing in senior coverage — people turning 65, people already on Medicare, and people who have Medicare through disability, including those who also have Medicaid. I represent many of the major carriers, so the conversation starts with your doctors and your prescriptions, not with a product I need to sell.
- No cost to you for my help
- Independent — many carriers
- I come to you
Ask me anything
Send a few details and I will call you back. There is never a charge for a conversation.
65Turning 65 soon? Start about three months early
12Northeast Ohio counties served
11Carriers I am appointed with
$0My services cost you nothing
Your agent
A real person, in your town
You will not get a call center, a hold queue, or a different representative every time. You get one agent who learns your situation and remembers it next year when something changes.
Medicare decisions are not really about insurance. They are about whether your cardiologist is still in network, whether the drug you take every morning is on the formulary, and whether the plan that was right three years ago is still right today. Those questions have specific answers, and finding them is my job.
I work across twelve counties in Northeast Ohio, and I am happy to sit down at your kitchen table and go through it on paper. Bring your Medicare card, your prescription list, and your questions.
What I help with
Coverage for the years that matter most
Medicare is the centre of the practice, but it is rarely the only thing a household needs sorted out.
Medicare Supplement
Medigap plans that pay the gaps Original Medicare leaves behind, letting you use any provider in the country that accepts Medicare. Paired with a separate Part D drug plan.
Supplement plansPart D prescription plans
Drug coverage stands or falls on the formulary and the pharmacy. We run your actual medication list, dose by dose, and compare what each plan will cost you over the year.
Part D plansMedicare & Medicaid together
If you qualify for both, there are special plans built for that combination, and you can usually change plans more often than everyone else. This is an area many agents skip.
Dual eligible helpLife insurance
Term and permanent coverage, and smaller final expense policies written specifically to cover a funeral so the bill never lands on your children.
Life optionsDental & critical illness
Original Medicare covers very little dental. Standalone dental plans and critical illness policies fill two of the most common and most expensive gaps.
Dental & critical illnessCarriers
Independent means I can compare
A captive agent has one company and one answer. I write policies with many carriers, which means the recommendation can follow your doctors and your prescriptions instead of following my contract.
- Aetna
- Anthem
- UnitedHealthcare (AARP)
- Medical Mutual
- Humana
- Coventry
- Summa
- Allwell
- Medico
- Cigna
- Liberty Bankers
Carrier availability varies by county and by plan year. We do not offer every plan available in your area.
How it works
Four steps, and none of them cost you anything
Agent commissions are paid by the insurance company, not by you. The plan costs the same whether you use an agent or not.
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Tell me your situation
Your age or Medicare start date, your doctors, your prescriptions, and what is worrying you.
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I check the details
Whether your providers are in network, whether your drugs are on the formulary, and what each plan actually costs across the year.
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We go through the options
In person at your table, or over the phone. Plain language, side by side, with the trade-offs said out loud.
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I stay your agent
Enrollment help now, and a review every year during the Annual Enrollment Period, because plans change even when you do not.
Where I work
Twelve counties across Northeast Ohio
Based in Garrettsville in Portage County, and out on the road across the region — from the Cleveland and Akron suburbs east to Ashtabula and south into the Mahoning Valley.
County matters more with Medicare than with almost any other kind of insurance. Medicare Advantage and Part D plans are approved county by county, so the plans available in Garrettsville are not necessarily the plans available thirty minutes away. That is one of the first things I check for you.
- Portage
- Trumbull
- Geauga
- Summit
- Cuyahoga
- Mahoning
- Ashtabula
- Lake
- Stark
- Medina
- Columbiana
- Wayne
Towns I am often in: Garrettsville, Hiram, Windham, Mantua, Ravenna, Kent, Streetsboro, Aurora, Chardon, Middlefield, Newton Falls, Warren and Ravenna.
Questions I hear every week
Straight answers
What does it cost me to use an agent?
Nothing. Agents are paid by the insurance carrier, and the premium is set by the carrier and filed with the government — it is the same whether you enroll through me, through a website, or on your own. What you get by using an agent is somebody who checks your doctors and your drug list first, and who is still reachable next February when you have a question about a bill.
I am turning 65. When do I need to do something?
Your Initial Enrollment Period runs for seven months — the three months before the month you turn 65, your birthday month, and the three months after. Starting early matters, because signing up in the months before your birthday is what gets your coverage active on day one. Waiting can mean a gap in coverage and, in some cases, a late enrollment penalty that follows you permanently.
What is the difference between Advantage and Supplement?
A Medicare Supplement works alongside Original Medicare and pays the gaps it leaves. You can use any provider nationwide that accepts Medicare, you buy a separate drug plan, and you typically pay a higher monthly premium for very predictable costs.
A Medicare Advantage plan replaces the way you receive your benefits. It usually has a low or zero monthly premium, often includes drug coverage and extras, but works through a network and has copays as you use care.
Neither is better in the abstract. It depends on your doctors, your travel, your health and your budget. Compare them here →
I have Medicare and Medicaid both. Does that change things?
Considerably, and usually in your favour. People who qualify for both may be eligible for special plans designed for that combination, may get help paying Part B premiums and drug costs, and generally have more opportunities during the year to change plans rather than being locked in until the fall.
Let’s sort this out together
One phone call, no charge, no pressure. Serving Garrettsville, Hiram, Windham, Mantua, Ravenna, Kent and twelve counties across Northeast Ohio.
We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.
Irwin Health & Life Insurance is not connected with or endorsed by the United States government or the federal Medicare program. This site is intended as general information and as a solicitation for insurance. A licensed agent may contact you.