Three ZIP codes, 15,788 people 65 and older
Downey's three ZIP codes hold 110,939 people, and 15,788 of them are 65 or older: 14.2 percent, a little under the 15.2 percent for Los Angeles County. In 90240, on the north side, 3,309 of 24,853 people are 65 or older, or 13.3 percent, and the median age is 38.9. In 90241, home to 45,319 people, the count is 6,273, or 13.8 percent, and the median age is 36.7. In 90242 it is 6,206 of 40,767, or 15.2 percent, with a median age of 37.7. Among people 5 and older, 52.6 percent in 90240 speak Spanish at home, along with 57.8 percent in 90241 and 58.0 percent in 90242. About a third of the city speaks only English. A little over half of Downey's households own their home: 17,807 of 34,876, or 51.1 percent. Countywide it is 45.9 percent. In 90240, the most owner occupied of the three ZIP codes, the share reaches 64.9 percent, and households have a median income of $101,904. The median is $88,006 in 90241 and $89,075 in 90242. Every figure here comes from the 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey. The 65 and older totals are its age brackets added together, not a percentage applied to the population.
Downey's hospitals, and who can use them
Kaiser Foundation Hospital Downey, at 9333 Imperial Highway in 90242, is licensed for 424 beds. It is Kaiser's own hospital, and only Kaiser plans have it in network. PIH Health Downey Hospital, at 11500 Brookshire Avenue in 90241, is licensed for 199. Beside Kaiser, at 7601 East Imperial Highway, Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center is the county's rehabilitation hospital, licensed for 158. The north end of the city, 90240, has no general hospital. We copied each bed count from the hospital's California license in September 2026. On other Medicare Advantage plans, the medical group sets which hospitals you can use. One group may send its patients to PIH Health Downey. Another may use Saint Francis in Lynwood or PIH Health Whittier. Plans from the same company can each work through a different group, with its own doctors. Groups and plans renegotiate their contracts, so a hospital that is in network now can drop out later. Before you enroll, Lara runs the names of your doctors, your pharmacy and your hospital through each plan's current directory. Once plans post their yearly changes, she runs them again.
Where a Downey review starts
If your doctors are at Kaiser Downey and you want to keep them, your choice is among Kaiser's own Medicare plans. If not, the question becomes whether a plan's medical group admits to PIH Health Downey or to a hospital outside the city. Moving from one side to the other means changing all your doctors at once, so Lara settles which side you are on before she compares a single premium. In each of Downey's ZIP codes, more than half of people 5 and older speak Spanish at home. Lara moves between the two languages as the visit goes. Your mother can ask about her prescriptions in Spanish while you read through the plan paperwork in English. Nearly two in three households in 90240 own their home, and just over half do across Downey. If most of what your parents have is tied up in the house, ask Lara about long term care as well. She can go over who would pay for that care and how the house figures in Medi-Cal's rules. She does that in a separate conversation, not during the Medicare plan review.
Medicare Advantage across Los Angeles County in 2027
About 57 percent of Los Angeles County's 1.7 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage or another Medicare health plan (CMS, May 2026). The county has 70 Medicare Advantage plans open to general enrollment in 2027, plus 54 Special Needs Plans, and 60 of the 70 charge a $0 monthly plan premium (CMS 2027 Landscape file). What varies far more is the out of pocket maximum, the most you pay in a year for covered care in network: our analysis of the same file puts the average at $2,232 and the median at $1,500, with a range from $199 to $9,850.
Lara is a licensed insurance agent. Insurance companies pay her when you enroll, so her help costs you nothing and your premium is the same with or without her.
How Lara is paidIndependent Medicare help in Downey
Goulson Insurance Services Inc. is an independent insurance agency, and our agents work as licensed brokers for Downey families. No single insurance company employs us or decides what we recommend, so the comparison starts with your doctors, your prescriptions and your budget. We put Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement and Part D plans from several carriers side by side, and you enroll only if one fits. The agency holds CA license 6020069, Lara Goulson holds CA license 0E69969, and we work in English, Spanish and Hebrew.
What Lara handles besides choosing a plan
Once you are enrolled, Lara is still the one to call. When a claim is turned down, she gets the plan on the line with you. Send her any bill that asks for more than your plan says you owe, and she will help you get it corrected. If a doctor's office is slow to call you back, she can call them with you. Your family can also come to her for life insurance, long term care or final expense coverage. Each of those is its own conversation, separate from your Medicare plan review.
Lara can tell you which plans have PIH Health Downey in network. Call or text (818) 472-5484.
You reach Lara directly · English, Español, עברית · Licensed in 12 states · 5.0 on Google · No cost to you
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