Is there a Medicare office near me in Los Angeles County?

What Social Security handles and what 1-800-MEDICARE handles

Medicare.gov explains the split: Medicare provides your coverage, but you sign up through Social Security, or the Railroad Retirement Board, because they check whether you are eligible, including whether you or another qualifying person paid Medicare taxes long enough to get Part A without a monthly premium, and they process requests to sign up for Part B. Medicare.gov's contact page sends you to Social Security to sign up for Part A or Part B, change your address, apply for Extra Help with Medicare drug costs, or confirm that you meet Medicare's citizenship or residency requirements: online at ssa.gov, by phone at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) or at your local office. Questions about Medicare itself go to 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227); TTY users can call 1-877-486-2048, and Medicare.gov says you can talk or live chat with a real person 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except some federal holidays. For help with costs, such as Medicare Savings Programs or Medicaid, which is Medi-Cal in California, Medicare.gov points you to your state; Medicare and Medi-Cal together explains how the two fit.

Signing up for Part B after job coverage ends: forms CMS-40B and CMS-L564

If you already have Part A and you leave a job or its health plan after 65, you sign up for Part B with form CMS-40B and prove your employer coverage with form CMS-L564, where you fill out Section A and your employer fills out Section B. The same applies when your coverage comes from your spouse's current job. Send them while you still have that coverage or within 8 months after the job or the coverage ends, whichever happens first: mail or fax both forms to your local Social Security office, or apply for Part B online at ssa.gov and send the CMS-L564 to the office by fax or mail. These two forms are for that situation, not forms everyone brings to a Social Security office. What to fill out on forms CMS-40B and CMS-L564, and where to send them goes through both.

Asking Social Security to lower IRMAA: form SSA-44

IRMAA, the income-related monthly adjustment amount, is the extra amount people with Part B, Medicare drug coverage or both pay toward their premiums when their income is above a set threshold, and Social Security decides it from tax information the IRS provides. If your income has gone down because of a life-changing event, such as marriage, divorce, the death of a spouse, or stopping or cutting back on work, you can ask Social Security for a new decision with form SSA-44, Medicare Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount Life Changing Event. Social Security decides that request too. The form is optional: you can also ask by phone or at your local office.

Help comparing plans at no cost

Two kinds of help with choosing a plan cost you nothing. HICAP, California's Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program, gives confidential one-on-one counseling at no cost: its number, 1-800-434-0222, helps you find the HICAP office in your area, and in Los Angeles County HICAP is run by the Center for Health Care Rights, at (213) 383-4519 or (800) 434-0222. Lara Goulson, a licensed insurance agent at Goulson Insurance Services, compares plans from the companies she represents, checks your doctors and prescriptions, and can enroll you in the plan you choose, in English, Spanish or Hebrew. She meets by appointment in Century City, or by phone or video, and her number is (818) 472-5484.

If your plan is ending in 2027

A letter saying your Medicare Advantage or Part D plan will not be renewed for 2027 is about the plan, not about your Part A and Part B: you keep Medicare whatever happens to the plan. You also get a Special Enrollment Period, from December 8, 2026 to February 28, 2027. Our guide to plans ending for 2027 lists the Los Angeles County plans that end, the dates that apply and what happens if you do nothing.

• Turning 65 in Los Angeles: when and how to sign up
• Working past 65 in Los Angeles
• Medicare plans ending for 2027: your deadlines
• Medicare Annual Enrollment dates and rules
• Medicare and Medi-Cal together
• Book a time with Lara Goulson to compare plans
• Contact Goulson Insurance Services