Arlington County’s Virginia Insurance Counseling and Assistance Program
(VICAP) provides free, unbiased, one-on-one insurance counseling to Arlington County Medicare Beneficiaries, their families, friends and caregivers.
Closing the Gap: An Insider's Guide to
Medigap Insurance
August 18, 2026 | 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Virtual
Arlington County's Virginia Insurance Counseling and Assistance Program (VICAP) offers free, monthly Medicare classes for older adults, people with disabilities, and caregivers. Learn about a new topic each month from certified VICAP Counselors and guest speakers from the local, state and federal level.
Join us in August for a virtual presentation with Arlington County VICAP and Virginia's State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance. You'll learn about:
- What Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) plans cover
- Consumer protections and important Medigap rights
- Medigap Trial Rights and enrollment considerations
- How Medigap costs differ for people under and over age 60
- Recent changes and updates to Medigap plans
Whether you're new to Medicare or reviewing your coverage options, this session can help you better understand Medigap and make informed choices about your health insurance.
Registration is required. Meeting details will be sent to participants the Friday afternoon before the presentation.
Register in one of three easy ways:
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National Immunization Awareness Month
August is National Immunization Awareness Month. This national health observance presents a great opportunity to educate seniors and other people with Medicare on the importance of disease control and prevention through immunization. Immunizations can help reduce your risk for critical illness and hospitalization.
Medicare provides coverage for seasonal influenza, pneumococcal, and hepatitis B vaccines and their administration for qualified beneficiaries as preventive immunizations. Speak to your provider about which immunizations are best for you. To learn more about your vaccine coverage under Medicare, click here.
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Software Company Owner Convicted of
$1 Billion Conspiracy
Senior Medicare Patrol | July 1st, 2026
A federal jury convicted the founder and owner of HealthSplash for his role in operating a platform that generated false doctors’ orders and prescriptions to defraud Medicare and other federal health care benefit programs out of more than $1 billion. According to court documents and trial evidence, Brett Blackman and his co-conspirators aggressively targeted hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries to get them to accept medically unnecessary orthotic braces and other items. They then arranged for purported telemedicine doctors to sign bogus prescription orders for these items so that their co-conspirators could bill Medicare for them. Co-defendant Gary Cox was previously convicted and sentenced. Read a story from Medical Economics and a Department of Justice press release.
SMP Resource Center products often contain links to copyrighted material. These informational links are provided for convenience and informational purposes to educate; they do not constitute a guarantee, endorsement, or approval by the SMP of the information available on any linked external site. SMP bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality, or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. If you have any questions, please email info@smpresource.org.
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Dear VICAP Team,
Does Medicare cover care outside the U.S.?
Dear Medicare Beneficiary,
Medicare generally does not cover healthcare services received outside of the United States and its territories. However, there are a few exceptions where both Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans may provide coverage for care received abroad:
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Emergency medical services may be covered in Canada if you are traveling directly between Alaska and another U.S. state, without an unreasonable delay, and the nearest facility capable of treating your condition is located in Canada.
- Medicare may cover medical services received on a cruise ship, provided the treatment is given while the ship is in U.S. territorial waters. This includes times when the ship is docked at a U.S. port or within six hours of arriving at or departing from one.
- In certain limited circumstances, Medicare can cover non-emergency inpatient care at a foreign hospital, along with related physician and ambulance services. This may apply when the foreign hospital is closer to your home than the nearest U.S. hospital that can provide the required treatment, such as for individuals living near the Canadian or Mexican border.
In addition, some Medigap policies offer coverage for emergency medical care while traveling outside the United States. Medigap Plans C through G, as well as Plans M and N, typically cover 80% of eligible emergency healthcare costs incurred abroad, subject to plan provisions and limitations.
Certain Medicare Advantage plans may also include emergency international coverage as an additional benefit. For details regarding eligibility, costs, and coverage limits, it is best to contact your plan directly.
 Interested in joining our team? Click here to complete an online volunteer application or contact the Arlington County VICAP team by phone or email:
703-228-1725
MedicareHelp@arlingtonva.us
This project was supported, in part by grant number 90SAPG0064, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy
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