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Description
This webinar will look back at the 2025-2026 Medicare Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) during which people made choices about their Medicare Advantage and Part D coverage. Presenters from the Center for Medicare Advocacy, the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) Technical Assistance Center, and the Iowa SHIP Program will review the challenges and lessons learned from this unique AEP season and discuss what beneficiaries and advocates should know heading into 2026..
Presented by Center for Medicare Advocacy Attorney Christine Huberty and Senior Medicare Advocate Melanie Lambert with special guests Brandy Bauer, Joint Center Director for the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) Technical Assistance Center and Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) Resource Center and Kristen Griffith, SHIP/SMP Director for Des Moines, Iowa.
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Presenter Bios
Brandy Bauer joined the Northeast Iowa Area Agency on Aging (NEI3A) in August 2024 as the Joint Center Director for the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) Technical Assistance Center and Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) Resource Center. In addition to overseeing the grant operation, technical assistance, training, and communications of the Centers, she provides Medicare subject matter expertise across a range of Center products. Before joining NEI3A, Brandy spent over a decade at the National Council on Aging. She has extensive knowledge around Medicare enrollment, coverage, and low-income subsidies.
Kristin Griffith. State Health Insurance Assistance (SHIP) Program director for Des Moines Iowa, brings over twenty years of multifaceted nonprofit leadership spanning multiple countries and functional areas. She has dedicated her career to serving people and communities through direct programming in senior centers, homeless shelters, and public housing across Canada and the United States. Internationally, she has led strategic initiatives and program development in women’s health, community development, and refugee services in Kosovo, Albania, and Sudan.
Her core competencies include strategic resource mobilization and multi-stakeholder partnership development—collaborating effectively with service users, community organizations, and government entities to drive measurable impact. She has demonstrated expertise in advocacy and policy influence, successfully engaging funders and government officials to shape funding priorities and policy frameworks. Additionally, she possesses strong capabilities in grant writing and contract management.
Kristin holds a Master of Public Health from Boston University and an MBA from York University’s Schulich School of Business in Toronto, Canada.
Melanie Lambert recently joined the Center for Medicare Advocacy as Senior Medicare Advocate. Melanie has a background in public service, advocacy, and program management, and with a passion for promoting health equity and social justice. As Senior Medicare Advocate, Melanie contributes to the Center’s education, training, outreach and advocacy work and provides direct support to Medicare beneficiaries who contact the Center for assistance.
Prior to joining the Center, Melanie administered and coordinated a variety of grants and programs serving older adults and individuals with disabilities for the CT Department of Aging and Disability Services (ADS), including serving as the State Health Insurance Assistance (SHIP – called CHOICES in CT) Director from 2019 to 2023. Before that, she administered community health programs and provided Aging and Disability Resource and SHIP Counseling to older adults and people with disabilities at the North Central Area Agency on Aging. As part of her graduate studies, she served as Student Representative to the United Nations on behalf of the International Association of Schools of Social Work, and served as Public Policy Intern for the CT Community Nonprofit Alliance.
Melanie holds a policy-focused Master of Social Work (MSW) degree from the University of Connecticut. She graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Philosophy from Central Connecticut State University.
Christine Huberty is involved in various aspects of the Center’s efforts, from direct advocacy to policy work. Prior to joining the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Christine served as the Lead Benefit Specialist Supervising Attorney at the non-profit Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources, Inc. (GWAAR) located in Madison, Wisconsin. For nine years, she provided free legal assistance to northern Wisconsin residents over age 60 in the areas of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, FoodShare (SNAP), housing law, and consumer law. Christine is a 2013 graduate of Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. Christine previously worked as an associate attorney at an elder and disability law firm in Minnesota, an intern with the National Senior Citizen Law Center (now Justice in Aging), and assisted low-income clients in the areas of divorce, child custody, orders for protection, and Social Security Disability Insurance appeals. Christine is an active member of Wisconsin’s Public Interest Law Section (PILS), where she currently serves as Chair.