Where to Send Your Clients When the Question Turns to Medicare
I am an independent Medicare broker in the Mahoning Valley and Western Pennsylvania, and I work with elder law attorneys, CPAs, financial advisors, and HR teams whose clients keep asking Medicare questions. There are no referral fees in either direction, so there is nothing for you to disclose and nothing to explain.
- 9+ years
- Licensed and working in Medicare
- 13 carriers
- Independent, not captive to one
- 50+ reviews
- Averaging 4.9 stars on Google
- OH, PA, MI
- Licensed in three states
You Get Medicare Questions You Are Not Licensed to Answer
A client turning 65 asks whether she should drop her husband's group plan. A retiring partner wants to know what a large Roth conversion does to his premium two years from now. A family halfway through a Medicaid application asks what happens to Mom's prescription coverage. An employee walks into HR three weeks before her retirement date with a stack of mail she does not understand.
These questions land on your desk because you are the person they already trust, not because the answer belongs to your license. Sending them to a toll free number solves your problem and creates theirs. The call gets recorded, the plan gets picked in eleven minutes by someone in another state, and the client calls you in February when the prescription is not covered.
You need somewhere better to point them, and you need to know the referral will not come back to you.
How the Referral Works
1. You make the introduction
Forward an email, send a text, or give the client my number. Whatever fits how you already work. If you would rather I reach out first, tell me and I will.
2. I contact the client within one business day
I meet people by phone or wherever they are comfortable, including their kitchen table. There is no office to drive to and no waiting room. During the busy stretch from October 15 through December 7, I still hold to one business day.
3. You find out what happened
With the client's permission I send you a short note explaining what I went over with them and what they decided. If the client would rather I keep it between us, I do that instead and you will know I did.
What I Handle for Each Kind of Partner
Elder Law Attorneys
Your Medicaid planning work and my Medicare work intersect constantly and neither one is optional for the client. I regularly help with dual eligible situations, Medicare Savings Programs, Extra Help for prescription costs, coverage during a spend down, and what changes for a beneficiary once a Medicaid determination comes through. I also work with adult children handling coverage for a parent, and with clients whose capacity is limited enough that a signed authorization matters.
CPAs and Tax Professionals
The Medicare questions that reach a CPA are almost always timing questions with a tax consequence attached. Whether a client can keep contributing to an HSA while enrolling in Part A. What the self employed health insurance deduction covers once Medicare starts. How income two years back sets the premium a client is paying today, and what to do when a one time capital gain drove it up. I handle the coverage side and send the tax side straight back to you.
Financial Advisors
Healthcare is one of the largest and least predictable line items in a retirement income plan, and Medicare premiums are the part of it that is set by decisions you are already advising on. Roth conversions, business sales, required minimum distributions, and inherited IRAs all move a client's Medicare premium two years later. I can tell you what a given year's income means for premiums and what relief is available after a life changing event so you can model it accurately. I do not sell annuities, life insurance, or investments, so nothing I do competes with what you do.
HR and Benefits Teams
Employees approaching 65 and employees heading into retirement generate the same handful of questions every year, and most of them are ones you are not supposed to answer. Whether an employee has to take Part B at 65 or can wait. How your group size determines which coverage pays first. What creditable coverage means for a Part D penalty later. Why COBRA is one of the more expensive mistakes an employee near 65 can make. I will take those calls directly so your team is not guessing, and I will do it without pitching anything to your active employees who do not need it yet. Employees turning 65 are the group that benefits most from starting early.
No Referral Fees, In Either Direction
I do not pay for referrals and I do not accept payment for the ones I send out.
Ohio and Pennsylvania both permit a limited referral fee to an unlicensed person, so this is a choice rather than a restriction. I make it because the money is the part that complicates everything else. With no fee involved there is nothing on my end for you to account for, and no reason for a client to wonder later why you sent them to me specifically.
Carriers pay me after an enrollment. Your client pays nothing for my help, and never will.
What I Will Not Do With Your Client
- I stay in my lane. I do not give tax, legal, or investment advice. When a question belongs to you, it goes back to you, and I say so plainly to the client.
- I sell Medicare and nothing else. No annuities, no life insurance, no investments, no wealth management. There is no second conversation waiting behind the first one.
- I do not guess. I check prescriptions and doctors against the carrier's own tools with the client on the phone rather than telling them what I think is probably covered.
- I do not cold call. Your client hears from me because you asked me to reach out, and for no other reason.
- I do not disappear after the enrollment. I review the client's coverage every year, because plans change every year and the one that fit in 2026 may not fit in 2027.
Medicare 101 for Your Clients or Your Employees
I speak to groups on request. That might be a lunch session for your firm's clients, a pre retirement briefing for employees, a segment at a continuing education meeting, or a short talk at a senior center or library your firm supports. Sessions run 30 to 60 minutes, cover how Medicare actually works, and end with questions rather than a pitch. There is no charge and no sign up sheet passed around the room.
If it helps, I will build the session around the questions your people are actually asking rather than a generic overview.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you pay referral fees?
No, and I do not accept them either. Ohio and Pennsylvania both allow a limited fee to an unlicensed person, so this is my choice. Keeping money out of it means you have nothing to disclose and your client has no reason to question why you sent them to me.
What does this cost my client?
Nothing. There is no fee for my help, before or after enrollment. Carriers pay me once a client enrolls.
Where do you work?
I am licensed in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. I meet clients in person within about a 45 minute drive of Boardman, and I work by phone everywhere else. If a client falls outside all three states, tell me and I will help you find someone reputable where they live.
Will I hear back about what happened?
Yes, if the client agrees to it. I send a short note covering what I went over with them and what they chose. If the client would rather keep it private, I respect that and let you know I am doing so.
Do you work on dual eligible and Medicaid related cases?
Yes. Dual eligible plans, Medicare Savings Programs, and Extra Help are a regular part of what I handle, and I am used to coordinating around a Medicaid application that is already in motion.
My client is still working past 65. Is that something you handle?
Yes, and it is one of the more common calls I take. Whether someone should enroll at 65 or delay depends on the employer's size, the plan's drug coverage, and what the client is trying to accomplish. Getting it wrong can attach a permanent penalty to their premium.
Are you tied to one carrier?
No. I represent 13 carriers and I am not employed by any of them. That is the whole reason to use a broker instead of calling a plan directly.
What happens after the first year?
I review the client's coverage every year. Plans change their costs and their networks annually, and a plan that fit last year may not fit this year. Your client does not have to call me to start that.
Have a question that is not here? Ask me directly.
More on how that works on my annual plan review page.
Start With a 15 Minute Call
No commitment and no pitch. Tell me what kinds of Medicare questions keep landing on your desk, and I will tell you plainly which ones I can take off it. If it is a fit, I will lay out how referrals can work from there. If it is not, you will know quickly.
Nick Walters, Walters Medicare LLC. Licensed in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. National Producer Number 19107133. Full license numbers appear in the footer of every page on this site. More about my background.