Services & rates
Here is what everything costs.
You shouldn't have to call to find that out, and a business that won't tell you is telling you something. These are the rates. There is no package above them that I'll try to move you to.
How this works
I advise. You act. I don’t file your appeal, make your calls, or sit in your care conference. I tell you exactly what to file, where, by when, and what to put in it — then read what comes back and tell you what it means.
You’re the one with the authority to act. What you’re missing isn’t a spare pair of hands, it’s knowing which lever to pull and what the deadline is. Most families get one attempt at a discharge appeal. My job is making that one the right one.
First conversation
You tell me what's happening. I tell you what I'd do, whether you need me, and who else you should be talking to. If the answer is that you don't need me, I'll say so.
- What's actually going on, in plain language
- Whether there's a deadline you're missing
- Whether this is a job for me, a free program, or an attorney
Free
30 minutes, by phone
Time-limited — 2026 only
Medi-Cal 2026 Renewal Readiness Review
California brought back the Medi-Cal asset limit on January 1, 2026, after two years without one. Your renewal will ask for documentation it hasn't asked for since 2023. This is the work of knowing exactly what's coming and exactly what to send, before the letter arrives instead of after.
- Your renewal month, and what it will ask you for
- An inventory of what counts and what's exempt
- A written checklist: every document to gather, and where it goes
- What the 2024–2025 transfer rules do and don't cover, and how the separate long-term care look-back differs
- Anything that needs an elder law attorney, flagged before your renewal rather than after
Care & Coverage Map
Two to three hours at your kitchen table — or on video, if you're in LA or San Diego — plus the document work afterward. You end up with something written down: everything you have, everything it covers, everything you're entitled to and not getting, and what to do in what order.
- Every coverage source you have and what each will actually pay for — Medicare and its structure, Medi-Cal, Medigap or Advantage, long-term care insurance, pension, disability
- Benefits you qualify for and aren't receiving — starting with IHSS, including that a family member can be the paid caregiver
- Which Community Supports your county's plan actually offers, which is not the same as which exist
- What the current plan really costs each month against the alternatives
- A prioritized list of what happens next — with a name against each one, so nothing sits there waiting for somebody
$950
flat fee, includes a written map
Working sessions
A scheduled hour against one specific problem. I tell you what to file, where, by when, and what to put in it. You file it. Then we go through what came back and what it means.
- Exactly what to say before a call, sometimes rehearsed out loud
- What an appeal or grievance has to contain — and what to leave out
- Medi-Cal and IHSS applications and appeals, including Protective Supervision
- Medical bills read line by line for the errors that are usually there
- Long-term care insurance claims and denials
- Getting you ready for your attorney or fiduciary, so that expensive hour is spent well
$165
per hour, prepaid in blocks
Standing By
For a slow decline, or something that's going to last years. Scheduled check-ins so problems surface before they're emergencies — and first call when something breaks, so you're not starting from zero at two in the morning.
- Three hours a month of advisory work on your case
- Scheduled check-ins, so problems surface before they're emergencies
- First call when something breaks — someone who already knows the situation
$450
per month — 3 hours, scheduled
Standing By — Long Distance
Your mother is in Laguna and you're in Chicago. You've been flying in every few weeks, spending days you don't have, and still finding things out after they've happened. You're the one with the authority to act — I'm the one who knows what should happen. That's a workable division of labor from two thousand miles.
- Three hours a month of advisory work on your parent's case
- Orange County, Los Angeles, or San Diego — that's where your parent needs to be
- A scheduled call — so you hear things when they happen, not afterward
- What to say before each call you make, and what it meant afterward
- First call when something breaks, whatever hour it breaks
- Honest reporting, including the parts your parent would rather you didn't hear
$450
per month — when you live too far away
Crisis consultation
A hospitalization, a discharge being forced, a denial with a clock running, a hospice discharge you didn't see coming. We work it in real time: which appeal applies, how long you've got, what to say and to whom, in what order. You make the calls. I tell you what to say before each one.
- Same-week response — I'll tell you honestly what I can do and when
- Whichever appeal route actually applies, and what it needs to contain
- Someone who knows the process, on the phone, while you handle everything else
$875
5-hour minimum, then $175/hour
Terms, in full
How billing works
Hourly work is prepaid in blocks and topped up before it runs out, so you always know where you stand. Retainers are billed monthly in advance. Flat-fee work is billed at the start. Everything is set out in a written agreement before I do any work at all.
Travel beyond twenty miles is billed at $85 an hour. I’ll tell you before it applies, not after.
What I never do
No contingency fees. No percentage of what I save you — that would give me a reason to prefer the expensive-looking problem. No referral fees, paid or accepted, from any facility, agency, insurer, plan, or provider.
If HICAP or another free program can do what you need, I’ll tell you on the first call, before you’ve paid me anything.
Start with a conversation.
Thirty minutes, on the phone, free. You tell me what's happening and I'll tell you what I'd do — including if that's nothing, or someone else.