Santa Cruz has two Medicare-age populations that rarely get addressed as one audience: people who've lived along this coast for decades, often on a fixed income shaped by fishing, farming, or small local business rather than a Silicon Valley pension, and people who moved over the hill more recently once a Bay Area commute stopped being part of the plan. Both groups eventually ask us the same practical question, and it isn't about Medicare itself. It's about which office actually answers the phone for free counseling here, since it isn't the one that covers Morgan Hill.
A different nonprofit runs your county's counseling
Santa Clara County's free HICAP counseling comes from Sourcewise. Santa Cruz County's comes from a separate organization entirely, Senior Network Services, at 3333 Soquel Drive, Suite A, in Soquel, reachable at (831) 462-1433. The Seniors Council of Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties is the county's Area Agency on Aging and funds the program, but it contracts the actual counseling out to Senior Network Services, so that's the number to call. Same statewide HICAP program, genuinely different local provider once you cross the county line.
A HICAP counselor is free and unbiased, and a good first call for general questions. What we add is a comparison of specific plans against your actual doctors and prescriptions, then handling enrollment directly. Neither replaces the other, and neither costs you anything.
Meeting without an office to visit
We don't have a Santa Cruz storefront, and we won't pretend otherwise. What we offer instead is a phone or video review covering the same ground an in-person meeting would: your current doctors, your prescriptions, and a side-by-side look at Medicare Advantage against Medicare Supplement, if that comparison matters for you.
The birthday rule doesn't stop at the county line
Unlike the HICAP-provider split above, California's Medigap birthday rule is a state law that applies identically everywhere, Santa Cruz County included. The full mechanic is on our California birthday rule page.
Two facts, and only one of them changes at the county line
The HICAP provider changes at the county line, Sourcewise on the Santa Clara side, Senior Network Services on the Santa Cruz side, but the birthday rule doesn't change at all, since it's written into state law rather than administered county by county. Keeping those two straight is most of what a Santa Cruz Medicare shopper needs to know before picking up the phone.
Plans still get filed county by county
Medicare Advantage plans are approved at the county level, so Santa Cruz County's lineup is its own, separate from Santa Clara County's. We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options. What doesn't change across the county line is who we're appointed with. The carriers we work with for the Morgan Hill office are listed in full on our carriers page.
- Your current doctors and specialists, so we can check them against any plan before recommending it
- Your prescriptions and dosages, since that's what actually drives a formulary comparison
- Any plan letter or Annual Notice of Change already in your mail pile
None of that needs to be perfectly organized before you call. Bring whatever you have, and we'll fill in the rest together over the phone or a video call, on your schedule rather than a drive over the summit and back.