Bensonhurst: D-SNPs, IB-Dual, and the “default enrollment” letter

Bensonhurst is a neighborhood of two-family brick houses and small apartment buildings between 86th Street, Bay Parkway, and 18th Avenue, with one of the larger older populations in southern Brooklyn. Long-time residents who bought decades ago share the blocks with newer immigrant families, and many in both groups are on Medicaid managed care as Medicare approaches, which is when the plan’s “default enrollment” letter arrives.

This page is for anyone in Bensonhurst holding that letter, for people who already have both Medicare and Medicaid and want the terms explained, and for the relatives and aides helping them. It gives the meaning of the letter, the consequences of each choice, and the free numbers to call. It does not enroll anyone.

Bensonhurst is in Kings County, which is what Medicare and Medicaid records call Brooklyn, and its Medicaid is run citywide by the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA). ZIP 11214 covers the core around 86th Street and Bath Avenue, 11204 the northern blocks shared with Mapleton and Borough Park, and 11228 the Dyker Heights side (approximate; verify with USPS). Every New York City integrated plan on the state’s 2026 IB-Dual chart lists Kings County, whichever ZIP you fall in.

What does vary is the Medicare network. Bensonhurst has no hospital of its own; residents split between Maimonides Medical Center on Tenth Avenue to the north and NYC Health + Hospitals / Coney Island on Ocean Parkway to the south, plus the storefront medical offices along 86th Street and Bay Parkway. Those names, and your pharmacy, are what to look up in a D-SNP’s provider directory.

The D train runs above 86th Street and New Utrecht Avenue and the N stops at Bay Parkway and 20th Avenue, so both HIICAP sites in southern Brooklyn are a short trip, and one is in the neighborhood itself.

Because the NYC Aging site on New Utrecht Avenue is so close, the most useful thing a Bensonhurst resident can do with a default enrollment letter is bring it, with the medication list, to a Thursday appointment before the opt-out deadline. The letter comes from your Medicaid plan at least 60 days before Medicare starts and states the date the D-SNP would take effect.

If you decide to opt out, do it by calling or writing the plan; New York Medicaid Choice can connect you. Opting out generally means leaving the Medicaid managed care plan too, with Medicaid continuing as fee-for-service. People who stay are placed in IB-Dual if they do not need more than 120 days of community long-term services, or in a MAP plan if they do; ask which version of the notice you received.