Medicare in Santa Monica by the numbers
Santa Monica is its own city, and one in five of its residents is past 65. Across the five ZIP codes, 93,581 people live here and 18,777 of them are 65 or older, 20.1 percent. The concentration is lopsided: north of Montana Avenue, 90402 is 28.4 percent past 65 with a median age of 52.7, the second oldest ZIP code on this site after Century City's 90067, while downtown's 90401 is 12.5 percent with a median age of 36.9. Those counts come from the 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey, summed from the age brackets rather than estimated from a percentage. Housing splits the same way. Citywide, 29.3 percent of occupied homes are owner occupied, so seven in ten households rent, but that runs from 73.9 percent ownership in 90402 to 5.2 percent in 90401. Median household income by ZIP code runs from $95,139 to $159,100. And 72.8 percent of residents aged 5 and over speak only English at home, with 10.1 percent speaking Spanish.
Two hospitals in a city of 93,000
Santa Monica has two general hospitals inside its city limits. Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital at 1250 16th Street is licensed for 281 beds, and Providence Saint John's Health Center at 2121 Santa Monica Blvd for 266. East of the city line, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is licensed for 919, and the nearest Kaiser hospital is Kaiser Foundation Hospital West Los Angeles, licensed for 265, reachable only through a Kaiser plan. Those counts come from California state licensing records, read this month. UCLA and Providence are different systems with different contracts, so the plan that reaches your UCLA doctor is not automatically the plan that reaches Saint John's, and neither is automatically the plan that reaches Cedars. Medicare Advantage networks are built around medical groups rather than around the insurance company's name, so two plans carrying the same logo can reach completely different doctors, and those contracts are renegotiated year to year. Before you enroll in anything, Lara pulls each plan's current directory and confirms your doctors, your hospital and your pharmacy, and she repeats that check each fall when plans publish their changes.
Two Santa Monicas
The Medicare conversation here depends on which Santa Monica you live in. North of Montana, in the owner occupied blocks of 90402, the usual question is Medicare Supplement versus Medicare Advantage as an exposure question: the Supplement's higher monthly premium buys a much smaller exposure to out of pocket costs in a bad year, and that trade looks different when there is a house to protect and specialists at UCLA or Cedars you intend to keep. In the rest of the city, where seven in ten households rent and many people have lived in the same apartment for decades, the first questions are different: whether a plan's network reaches the doctors you already see on Wilshire or at Saint John's, and whether you or a parent qualify for help. People with both Medicare and Medi-Cal can be eligible for a Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan, of which Los Angeles County has 47 in 2026, and Extra Help lowers Part D drug costs for people under its income and resource limits. Neither is automatic; eligibility depends on income and assets and has to be checked, which takes a few minutes and costs nothing. Lara compares both Santa Monicas' options at no cost, in English, Spanish or Hebrew.
Medicare Advantage in Santa Monica by the numbers, 2026
Santa Monica sits in Los Angeles County, one of the biggest Medicare Advantage markets in the country. In 2026 the county has 74 Medicare Advantage plans open to general enrollment plus 47 Special Needs Plans, per the CMS 2026 Landscape file, and 65 of those 74 plans charge a $0 monthly plan premium. About 57 percent of the county's 1.7 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage or other Medicare health plans (CMS, May 2026). Our analysis of the same CMS file puts the average in network out of pocket maximum across the county's general enrollment plans at $2,428, with a median of $1,700 and a range from $199 all the way to $9,250. That spread is the whole argument for comparing before you enroll: two $0 premium plans can differ by thousands of dollars in a bad year. We run that comparison for Santa Monica families at no cost: (818) 472-5484.
Straight answers, and the fine print up front
Here is exactly how this works. Lara is a licensed independent insurance agent, and her help costs you nothing, because licensed agents are paid by the insurance companies whose plans they represent. Your premium is the same whether you enroll through an agent, online, or directly with the insurer. What an independent agent adds is the comparison: she is appointed with several carriers rather than one. She does not carry every plan available in Los Angeles County, and she will tell you when something she cannot sell looks like the better fit for you.
Medicare help in Santa Monica from a licensed broker
Goulson Insurance Services Inc. is an independent insurance agency, and our agents work as licensed brokers for Santa Monica families. Independent means no single insurance carrier employs us or decides what we recommend, so the comparison starts with your doctors, your prescriptions, and your budget. We compare Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and Part D drug plans from multiple carriers side by side and help you enroll in the one that fits. The agency holds CA license 6020069, Lara Goulson holds CA license 0E69969, and the team works in English, Spanish, and Hebrew. Whether you searched for Medicare help near me, a broker, or a local agency, it is the same licensed help, and it costs you nothing, because carriers pay broker compensation, which is regulated by Medicare.
What we help Santa Monica families with
Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement and Part D comparisons, plus life insurance, long term care and final expense coverage for families across Santa Monica, from Ocean Park to north of Montana.
Call or text (818) 472-5484 for a free Santa Monica Medicare review.
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Nearby Neighborhoods
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