Ensuring Access to Quality Medicare

Ron Elledge is a Medicare agent, planner, and author. For more than twelve years, Ron has been a seniors market insurance agent in Arizona and New Mexico. As a consulting Medicare planner, he has helped thousands decipher the intricacies of Medicare rules and regulations, enabling them to make educated selections for their healthcare needs. A world traveler with his wife Shelli, Elledge specializes in Medicare for expats and frequent travelers. In 2019, International Living commissioned Ron to write Medicare Made Easy: What Expats, Frequent Travelers and You Need to Know. He’s up to date with Medicare regulations, coverage options, and enrollment protocols and is fervent in his resolve to present trustworthy data on this confusing and often maligned program.

“By obtaining dependable details on how to read their Medicare options, recipients can plan for it correctly and make the best choices,” says Elledge. “These choices often make a huge financial and emotional difference in their futures. When Medicare is correctly utilized, it becomes a powerful financial and medical tool for all who qualify.”

Elledge can be reached by email at [email protected]

Caren has worked in health care more 25 years. As a former Navy hospital corpsman, she gained clinical experience in the operating room and surgical clinics. She then transitioned to the civilian world, working in doctors offices in various subspecialties, as well as auditing and risk adjustment. Lampitoc became a medical coder in 1999 and has served as an instructor and national speaker since 2006. She served on the AAPC national advisory board from 2015 to 2018. Her passion is education and training as well as helping providers understand proper documentation and coding. Understanding Medicare policy is always part of the education for providers. Moving into her current position as a Medicare consultant brought her career full circle from clinical service, to the office, and now to the payer.

Tammy Burns is an experienced health insurance advisor specializing in  Medicare and senior health issues, including Medicare Advantage Plans and prescription drug plans, as well as ACA certified for health insurance and other ancillary, life and annuity products.

She’s always been driven by a desire to help people, spending more than 25 years as a practicing nurse in hospitals, private doctors’ offices, home health, and hospice. As a nurse, Burns supported patients filing insurance claims with Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies, as well as responding to billing questions from confused patients.

Seeing firsthand how unsuspecting patients are frequently confused by an overly complex system they don’t understand led Burns to become an insurance agent and healthcare consultant, now helping people understand the medical system.  Since becoming an agent, she has worked with some of the largest and most  reputable insurance carriers and agencies in the nation, and she has built a large  and loyal clientele by way of her commitment to transparency and personalized  service.

As a healthcare professional for more than 30 years, Kelly Blackwell has walked alongside and cared for seniors as they journey through the seasons of their fourth quarter of life. Blackwell understand health insurance choices influence quality of life and are driven by values, goals, and beliefs. She’s passionate about engaging with, educating, and empowering seniors as they navigate the health care system. She’s equipped to lend an experienced, compassionate voice to beneficiaries seeking information about Medicare Advantage Plans.

As a Certified Senior AdvisorⓇ (CSA), Blackwell has access to valuable resources for Medicare beneficiaries. And her work as a bedside nurse and as a Clinical Manager have given her the opportunity to see how Medicare rules, regulations, and benefits work when patients need them. With a passion to learn and to make a difference in the lives of seniors, Blackwell has graduate-level education as a Palliative Care Community Specialist with a Master of Science in Health Care Administration and maintains an active Registered Nurse license. She’s poised to join the ranks of Medicare beneficiaries this year, and intends to sign up for the Medicare Advantage Plan that best suits her particular needs.