5 /5 Sarah Swanson: My husband and I (both attorneys and used to filling out forms correctly) began the process of applying for Medicare ourselves. We used the official government website.It was a mess! My husband received a message saying that he wasnt eligible for Medicare (he is 67, born in the U.S., has worked since he was. teenager, and is very eligible) I received a different message and was told that I needed to wait for a code to be snail-mailed to me in order to continue to apply. We each called Social Security and each waited over 3 hours on hold before talking with someone, neither of whom could solve our problems. My husband was then given the an appointment for April, which is outside of the open enrollment period. Then, a friend recommended Emily Hanson. Let me begin by saying that I wish that every professional who I deal with was as good at their job as Emily is at hers. By the end of our first meeting, she had managed to get us both enrolled for basic Medicare, helped us choose the supplements we would add as soon as we received our Medicare numbers, and helped us choose an ACA plan for our 23 year old daughter, who had been on our group plan. We couldnt believe that we had gone, in one meeting, from thinking that it would take months to untangle the problems that the Medicare website had created to having successfully completed the application process. I will recommend Emily to everyone I know who is approaching Medicare eligibility or needs other health insurance, and I am planning to ask her to evaluate and help us update our life insurance plans. I had talked with 2 other highly-recommended agents before I began the process of applying for Medicare on the government website. Neither of them help their clients through the initial application process and neither of them was nearly as knowledgeable about Medicare products and rules as Emily was. In fact, one of them gave me some incorrect advice, which could have had serious consequences. Emily, by contrast, walked us successfully through the application process, gave us very clear explanations of the different options, and gave us very clear instructions for what to expect next and told us that she would be happy to help us through the next steps. I will always use Emily for our insurance needs going forward. I only wish that I had known about her earlier!
