Median age 44.8, more than six years above the county's 38.2
Sierra Madre is a small foothill city below the Mount Wilson trail. More than one in five people in 91024 is 65 or older: 2,281 out of 10,940, or 20.9 percent. The county's share is 15.2 percent. The count comes from the age tables of the American Community Survey for 2020 to 2024, added up group by group instead of worked out from a percentage. Among people 5 and older, 77.7 percent speak only English at home, 7.5 percent speak Chinese and 6.3 percent speak Spanish. Spanish is one of Lara's three languages, so a parent who prefers it can go through the plans and enroll in Spanish. Chinese is not. Someone more at ease in Chinese may want the son or daughter who usually handles their English paperwork at the table. Family is welcome at every meeting.
Huntington in Pasadena, USC Arcadia in Arcadia
Huntington Hospital, at 100 W California Blvd in Pasadena, is licensed for 493 beds. USC Arcadia Hospital, at 300 W Huntington Dr, is licensed for 348. Both have emergency departments. Monrovia Memorial Hospital is licensed for 49. The bed counts are from the state's licensing records as of September 2026. Kaiser has no hospital in the foothill cities, so outside an emergency, a Kaiser plan means driving to a Kaiser hospital somewhere else. Huntington, USC Arcadia and Kaiser are three separate systems. With Medicare Advantage, your medical group decides where you are admitted, and the insurer's logo won't tell you which group that is. One insurer can sell two plans built on different doctors, and the group contracts behind them are renegotiated year to year. For every plan she shows you, Lara searches the current directory for your hospital, each doctor you see and your pharmacy. Each fall, after plans announce their changes, she runs the same search again.
The income surcharge, and the house up the canyon
Half the households in 91024 take in more than $143,547 a year. Above a set income, Part B and Part D premiums come with an extra charge, the income related monthly adjustment. Social Security sets it from your tax return of two years earlier, so the first year after you stop working can be billed on a salary you no longer earn. If retirement or another life changing event cut your income, Form SSA-44 asks Social Security to use the newer figure. In 91024, 55.8 percent of occupied homes are owned by the people who live in them. Across the county, 45.9 percent are. Owning the house raises two long term care questions: where the money for care would come from, and how the house would count under Medi-Cal's rules. A home up a narrow canyon road adds a third, because home health aides have a harder time reaching it. All three are easier to settle while everyone is still healthy. Lara takes up long term care at a separate time, never inside your 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 Sierra Madre
Goulson Insurance Services Inc. is an independent insurance agency, and our agents work as licensed brokers for Sierra Madre 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.
Beyond the plan comparison
Lara also offers long term care, life insurance and final expense policies, and takes each one up in its own conversation, apart from your Medicare plans. If a bill from Huntington or USC Arcadia comes back wrong after you enroll, she gets on the phone with you to sort it out. The same goes for a claim the plan denies, or a doctor's office that needs a call.
Call or text (818) 472-5484 and tell Lara whether you use Huntington or USC Arcadia.
You reach Lara directly · English, Español, עברית · Licensed in 12 states · 5.0 on Google · No cost to you
Nearby Neighborhoods
We serve the whole San Fernando Valley and greater Los Angeles. These are the neighborhood pages closest to this one.