Young on paper, with 7,887 people 65 or older
The 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey puts the median age in ZIP code 90026 at 37.2, so half the people here are younger than that. Still, 7,887 of the ZIP code's 62,692 residents are 65 or older, about one in eight (12.6 percent). We totaled the survey's age groups for 65 and over to get that count. The same survey shows that about three households in four rent. Of the 27,129 occupied homes, 6,376, or 23.5 percent, are lived in by the people who own them. Median household income is $87,334. If you rent, your Medicare plan has to fit in the same monthly budget as the rent, and the premium is only part of what the plan costs. Lara works out a full year's cost for each plan, with your prescriptions and copays counted in.
One general hospital in 90026, and bigger ones around it
L.A. Downtown Medical Center, at 1711 West Temple Street, is the one general acute care hospital in 90026. It is licensed for 122 beds. Gateways Hospital on Effie Street is a psychiatric hospital, not a general one. The bigger hospitals sit outside the ZIP code. PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital at 1225 Wilshire Boulevard has 380 licensed beds, and Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center at 1300 N Vermont Ave has 350. Kaiser Foundation Hospital Los Angeles, at 4867 Sunset Blvd, has 492, and it is a network hospital only for people with a Kaiser plan. East across the river are Los Angeles General Medical Center at 2051 Marengo St, the county hospital, with 572 beds; Keck Hospital of USC at 1500 San Pablo Street, with 343; and Adventist Health White Memorial at 1720 Cesar E Chavez Avenue, with 293. We checked these licensed bed counts against California's state records in September 2026. Your address in 90026 has nothing to do with whether L.A. Downtown Medical Center is in your plan. Medicare Advantage plans reach doctors and hospitals through medical groups, and each plan has its own mix of groups, so two plans from one company can come with different doctors. Plans and groups also renegotiate their contracts, and a hospital that is in a network one year can be gone the next. Tell Lara which doctors, pharmacy and hospital you use. Before you sign anything, she looks up every name in the current directories of the plans you are comparing. Every fall, after the plans announce what is changing, she checks them all again.
When you are calling for a parent
In a ZIP code with a median age of 37, the call to Lara often comes from a son or daughter rather than the parent turning 65. Some call from another city, and that works by phone or video. For the first call, have your parent's Medicare card ready, along with the names of their doctors and pharmacy and every prescription with its dose. If even one of those drugs is off a plan's formulary, the plan with the lowest premium can end up costing your parent more. Your parent also has to take part in the enrollment, by phone or in person, unless you hold a power of attorney or other legal authority to act for them. Lara brings this up on the first call, before anyone picks a plan. If your parent's income is modest, there may be help that changes which plans make sense, so Lara checks for it first. Extra Help lowers what Part D drugs cost when income and resources are limited. If your parent has Medi-Cal along with Medicare, Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans may be among the choices. Lara can check your parent's income and assets against both sets of limits in a few minutes. In 90026, 37.3 percent of everyone 5 and up speaks Spanish at home. If your mother is more comfortable in Spanish and you in English, Lara can switch between the two on the same call.
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 Echo Park
Goulson Insurance Services Inc. is an independent insurance agency, and our agents work as licensed brokers for Echo Park 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 for families in 90026
Lara keeps helping after you enroll. When a plan denies a claim, she phones the plan and brings you or your parent onto the line. She will also call a doctor's office together with you and help fix a billing mistake. Lara sells long term care, final expense and life insurance too, and those get a conversation of their own, kept apart from any Medicare review.
Reach Lara at (818) 472-5484, by call or text, about your own Medicare or a parent's.
You reach Lara directly · English, Español, עברית · Licensed in 12 states · 5.0 on Google · No cost to you
Nearby Neighborhoods
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