Hi — I am Erekle.

How I ended up doing this

I am from Georgia — the small country on the Black Sea, not the state. I came to the United States in 2000 and have been in the Edgewater and New York City area ever since. My full name is Erekle Niniashvili. The people who have known me longest call me Ika.

I got into this working at a Medicare agency, which is where I learned the mechanics of it. At the same time, on my own, I was helping my own family and people close to me sort out their coverage. That second part is the part that taught me the most. When it is someone you love, you do not skim the summary — you sit down and go through every plan available to them until you actually know which one fits.

That is the same process I use for you. It is the only one I trust, because it is the one I built for people I could not afford to get wrong.

Being straight with you: this is my second year in the Medicare industry. I would rather you hear that from me than wonder. What I can tell you is that I do this one thing and nothing else, I take the time it takes, and I will say “I do not know, let me find out” before I will guess at something that affects your coverage.

Who I work with

Medicare and Medicaid, and only that. If you are 65 or older, or you already have Medicare Parts A and B at any age, you are who I help. That is all I do — I am not selling you another kind of insurance alongside it.

What “independent” actually means

A lot of people call themselves independent. Here is the version that matters to you: I am not signed to a single carrier and no insurance company sets quotas for me. I am contracted with a number of the major organizations, so when we go through your options I have no reason to push you toward one company over another. What I recommend comes out of what I find for you, not out of who I work for.

I do get paid — by the insurance company, if you enroll in something. That is how nearly every Medicare agent in the country works, and you should know it. What it does not do is change your price: the premium is the same whether you enroll through me, through a call center, or by yourself. And my help costs you nothing either way.

What I cannot do is offer you every plan that exists in your county. Nobody can — no agent is contracted with everything. That is precisely why the disclosure at the bottom of every page on this site exists, and why I will always tell you when the right move is to look at something I do not carry.

How I actually work

• Over the phone, or I come to you. Whichever you prefer. If you would rather do this at your own kitchen table than on the phone, say so and I will come out.
• Your doctors and your prescriptions come first. Before anything else, we write down who you see and what you take. Everything else is downstream of that list.
• I go through the plans available to you, properly. Not the first two that look reasonable. I compare what is actually offered in your county against that list of yours, then tell you which one I think fits best and exactly why I think so.
• Ask as many times as you want. Call, text or email as often as you like, and there is no charge for any of it. If you only want to understand your options and compare a few plans with no intention of changing anything, that is a completely fine reason to contact me.
• I will tell you to do nothing when that is right.Sometimes the answer is “your current coverage is fine, call me in October.” That answer pays me nothing, and it is still the right answer.
• I am still here next year. The value of an independent agent is not the enrollment. It is having someone to call when a drug gets dropped from a formulary in November.