Janis Lakkees Medicare Agent

Janis Lakkees Medicare Agent I will help you with Medicare. I work with integrity and intention and always do whats best for you. I work with my clients every step of the way.

My name is Janis Lakkees and I am an Independent Medicare Agent with Bridgelink Insurance Solutions. I truly love what I do - which working with seniors and helping them understand Medicare and their choices. I have an office in Upland, Ca and also will come to you so you don't have to travel. I have 4 children ages 10, 10, 12, and 23. My son is Special Needs and keeps me focused and clear on my mission which is to always have integrity in my life.

No, you are not required to enroll in Medicare when you turn 65. However, delaying enrollment may affect your benefits a...
03/24/2026

No, you are not required to enroll in Medicare when you turn 65. However, delaying enrollment may affect your benefits and costs depending on your situation.

Medicare has two main parts to consider. Part A covers inpatient hospital services, and Part B covers outpatient services like doctor visits and medical tests.

Medicare Part A is premium-free if you or your spouse worked and paid Medicare taxes for at least 40 quarters, which equals 10 years. If you have fewer quarters of coverage, you may pay premiums of $311 monthly for 30-39 quarters or $565 monthly if you have less than 30 quarters.

Medicare Part B has a standard monthly premium of $202.90 in 2026. If you have creditable healthcare coverage from an employer when you turn 65, you can delay enrolling in Part B without penalty until your employer coverage ends. However, if you delay Part B enrollment without creditable coverage, you will face a late enrollment penalty of 10% for each full 12-month period you were eligible but did not enroll.

The key is understanding whether your current coverage qualifies as creditable and making an informed decision based on your specific circumstances.

Navigate Medicare with confidence — connect with Janis Lakkees at Medicare Made Easy in Upland, CA and discover the coverage that fits your life!

Medicare prescription drug coverage, officially called Part D, is available through two main options. First, you can enr...
03/21/2026

Medicare prescription drug coverage, officially called Part D, is available through two main options. First, you can enroll in a standalone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan that works alongside Original Medicare, some Medicare Cost Plans, Private Fee-for-Service plans, and Medical Savings Account plans. You must have Medicare Part A or Part B to join a separate Part D plan. Second, you can choose a Medicare Advantage Plan that includes prescription drug coverage, which provides all your Part A, Part B, and Part D benefits through one plan. Keep in mind that you need both Part A and Part B to join Medicare Advantage, and not all Medicare Advantage plans include drug coverage. To be eligible for any Medicare prescription drug plan, you must be a U.S. citizen or lawfully present in the United States. Compare specific costs and coverage details at Medicare.gov/plan-compare, and contact plans directly for additional information. For personalized help comparing plan costs and benefits, reach out to your State Health Insurance Assistance Program.

Navigate Medicare with confidence — connect with Janis Lakkees at Medicare Made Easy in Upland, CA and get the personalized guidance you deserve!

Your Medicare card is proof of your Medicare insurance. If your Medicare card was lost, stolen, or destroyed, you can re...
03/18/2026

Your Medicare card is proof of your Medicare insurance. If your Medicare card was lost, stolen, or destroyed, you can request a replacement with your personal my Social Security account.

If you don’t already have an account, you can create one online at SSA.gov, go to Sign In or Create an Account.

Once you are logged in to your account, select the "Replacement Documents" tab. Then select “Mail my replacement Medicare card.”

Your Medicare card will arrive in the mail in about 30 days at the address on file with Social Security so be sure to make sure your mailing address is correct before completing the request.

If you need to know your new Medicare number now, you have some options. In your personal my Social Security account, you can get your Benefit Verification Letter, which includes your Medicare number. You can also visit Medicare.gov and sign in to see your Medicare number and print an official copy of your card. If you don’t have a Medicare.gov account, go to Medicare.gov and select “Log In/Create Account”. Then, follow the instructions.

If you can’t or prefer not to use the online service, you can call 1-800-MEDICARE .

Navigate Medicare with confidence — connect with Janis Lakkees at Medicare Made Easy in Upland, CA and get the personalized guidance you deserve!

What Part A covers:Medicare Part A hospital insurance covers inpatient hospital care, skilled nursing facility, hospice,...
03/18/2026

What Part A covers:
Medicare Part A hospital insurance covers inpatient hospital care, skilled nursing facility, hospice, lab tests, surgery, home health care.

What Part B covers:
Learn about what Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) covers, including doctor and other health care providers' services and outpatient care. Part B also covers durable medical equipment, home health care, and some preventive services.

What Medicare health plans cover:
Medicare health plans include Medicare Advantage, Medical Savings Account (MSA), Medicare Cost plans, PACE, MTM

Preventive & screening services:
Part B covers many preventive services.

What's not covered by Part A & Part B:
Learn about what items and services aren't covered by Medicare Part A or Part B. You'll have to pay for the items and services yourself unless you have other insurance. If you have a Medicare health plan, your plan may cover them.

Navigate Medicare with confidence — connect with Janis Lakkees at Medicare Made Easy in Upland, CA and get the personalized guidance you deserve!

Visit the "Estimate my Medicare eligibility & premium" page on the US Government Medicare website. This will give you an...
03/14/2026

Visit the "Estimate my Medicare eligibility & premium" page on the US Government Medicare website. This will give you an estimate of when you're eligible for Medicare and your premium amount. If you don't see your situation, contact Social Security (or the Railroad Retirement Board if you get railroad benefits) to learn more about your specific eligibility or premium.

In general, you qualify for Medicare if you are 65 or older, a U.S. citizen, or a permanent legal resident who's been in the United States for at least five years, have worked 10 years, and paid Medicare taxes. You may also qualify if you are younger than 65 but are disabled or have certain medical conditions.

Navigate Medicare with confidence — connect with Janis Lakkees at Medicare Made Easy in Upland, CA and get the personalized guidance you deserve!

Medicare Advantage plans with supplemental dental inclusion that incorporates dental inserts will be generally helpful. ...
03/12/2026

Medicare Advantage plans with supplemental dental inclusion that incorporates dental inserts will be generally helpful. You might need to pay an extra charge, and there will constantly be a most extreme dental advantage sum permitted, alongside either a copay or coinsurance.

Few Medicare Advantage plans cover dental inserts, and some explicitly prohibit dental inserts, regardless of whether they offer other dental benefits. Some of these plans provide artificial posts or crowns, but not the surgical placement of the metal post required for an implant.

If you need dental implants, most likely, you'll incur some amount of out-of-pocket expense.

Navigate Medicare with confidence — connect with Janis Lakkees at Medicare Made Easy in Upland, CA and discover the right plan for you today!

When you sign up for Medicare, it's logical to focus on your premiums while making coverage decisions.However, two other...
03/11/2026

When you sign up for Medicare, it's logical to focus on your premiums while making coverage decisions.

However, two other factors actually are more important: your access to care and the risk of high out-of-pocket costs.

And if you enroll in traditional Medicare, getting that out-of-pocket protection probably boils down to just one word: Medigap.

Traditional Medicare offers much more flexibility in how you access medical care when compared with Medicare Advantage plans, which typically use managed-care provider networks. However, Advantage plans come with a built-in cap on out-of-pocket costs--a feature that traditional Medicare lacks. Some traditional Medicare enrollees receive supplemental gap insurance as a retirement benefit from their former employers to cover some of those out-of-pocket costs.

Lower-income seniors may receive help from Medicaid. But for everyone else, it's essential to understand the ins and outs of Medigap--when to buy it, the plan options, and how to go about selecting a plan.

Navigate Medicare with confidence — connect with Janis Lakkees at Medicare Made Easy in Upland, CA and get the personalized guidance you deserve!

Medicare does not pay for assisted living facilities or custodial long-term care. However, Medicare may cover short-term...
03/06/2026

Medicare does not pay for assisted living facilities or custodial long-term care. However, Medicare may cover short-term stays at skilled nursing facilities under specific circumstances.

Original Medicare covers up to 100 days per benefit period at a Medicare-certified skilled nursing facility when a doctor determines you need specialized medical services following a qualifying hospital stay. To qualify, you must be formally admitted to a hospital for three consecutive days. Observation time and outpatient visits do not count toward this requirement.

The skilled nursing facility must be Medicare-certified and provide skilled medical care, not just custodial assistance. Assisted living facilities do not qualify as skilled nursing facilities since they do not provide intensive medical care.

Medicare covers the full cost for days 1 through 20 of your skilled nursing facility stay. For days 21 through 100, you pay a daily copayment of $217.00 in 2026 while Medicare covers the remaining costs. After 100 days, you are responsible for all costs unless you have supplemental insurance coverage.

Navigate Medicare with confidence — connect with Janis Lakkees at Medicare Made Easy in Upland, CA and get the personalized guidance you deserve!

Medicare only covers medically necessary surgical procedures. Medicare defines medically necessary services as “health c...
03/04/2026

Medicare only covers medically necessary surgical procedures. Medicare defines medically necessary services as “health care services or supplies that are needed to diagnose or treat an illness, injury, condition, disease, or its symptoms – and that meet accepted standards of medicine.” Medicare further defines medically necessary services as ones that:

- Are proper and needed for the diagnosis or treatment of your medical condition.
- Are provided for the diagnosis, direct care, and treatment of your medical condition.
- Meet the standards of good medical practice in the local area and are not mainly for your or your doctor’s convenience.

To see a list of covered services, including surgeries, you can search the Medicare website at Medicare.gov.

Even if a surgery is covered, you may still have out-of-pocket costs in the form of deductibles, coinsurance, or copays that you are required to pay.

Navigate Medicare with confidence — connect with Janis Lakkees at Medicare Made Easy in Upland, CA and get the personalized guidance you deserve!

The Medicare SNF Three-Day Rule requires you to have at least three consecutive days as an admitted inpatient in a hospi...
03/03/2026

The Medicare SNF Three-Day Rule requires you to have at least three consecutive days as an admitted inpatient in a hospital before Medicare will cover skilled nursing facility care. This rule is crucial because it determines whether your SNF stay will be covered by Medicare Part A.

The key distinction is between inpatient admission and observation status. When you're under observation, you're technically an outpatient, and this time does not count toward the required three-day inpatient stay. Hospitals are required to inform you of your status, but it's important to ask directly whether you're admitted as an inpatient or under observation.

Here are two examples to illustrate the rule. If you were formally admitted to the hospital as an inpatient for three days and discharged on the fourth day, you would meet the three-day requirement for covered SNF care. However, if you spent one day in the emergency room under observation services and then were admitted as an inpatient for only two more days, your SNF stay would not be covered because the observation day doesn't count toward the three-day requirement, leaving you with only two qualifying inpatient days.

Navigate Medicare with confidence — connect with Janis Lakkees at Medicare Made Easy in Upland, CA and discover the right plan for you today!

Whether or not to admit you as an inpatient to a hospital is a decision made by your doctor after reviewing your medical...
02/27/2026

Whether or not to admit you as an inpatient to a hospital is a decision made by your doctor after reviewing your medical situation, and they decide whether it is necessary to admit you to the hospital. According to Medicare, an inpatient admission is generally appropriate when you're expected to need 2 or more midnights of medically necessary hospital care. Your doctor must order the hospital admission, and the hospital must formally admit you to be considered an inpatient.

Whether you are classified as an inpatient or an outpatient impacts the out-of-pocket costs (deductibles, copays, and coinsurance), you have to pay for hospital services (X-rays, drugs, and lab tests). Your hospital status (inpatient vs. outpatient) may also affect if Medicare will cover care in a skilled nursing facility (SNF) after your hospital stay.

Navigate Medicare with confidence — connect with Janis Lakkees at Medicare Made Easy in Upland, CA and get the personalized guidance you deserve!

There are two parts to how Medicare Advantage plans get paid.The first is the premium members pay; how the premium depen...
02/25/2026

There are two parts to how Medicare Advantage plans get paid.

The first is the premium members pay; how the premium depends on the benefits of the plan you purchase. It can be as low as $0, or it can be higher in other cases.

Secondly, since Medicare Advantage Plans completely replace Original Medicare, Medicare pays the Medicare Advantage insurance company an amount per member based on location, health, and many other factors. The Medicare Advantage insurance company's responsibility is to pay for all the health care needed by that Medicare Advantage member. The payment from Medicare makes up the majority of the money the insurance company gets for each member. They then manage their members' healthcare which allows them to provide additional benefits and lower the premiums they can charge, even to the point of having $0 premium plans.

Navigate Medicare with confidence — connect with Janis Lakkees at Medicare Made Easy in Upland, CA and get the personalized guidance you deserve!

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876 N Mountain Avenue Suite 200A
Upland, CA
91786

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Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm

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