Medicare Open Enrollment: Compare Plans, Keep Your Number Private
Medicare open enrollment runs to December 7. Who may ask for your Medicare number, which calls to hang up on, and a routine for comparing 2027 plans safely.
The calls and mailers peak before December 7. You can compare Medicare plans for 2027 without handing your Medicare number to anyone who reached you first, and the official rules back you up.
If you have Medicare, the weeks between mid-October and early December bring a steady run of “plan review” calls, postcards about extra benefits and ads that look like government notices. Some come from licensed agents doing honest work. Others are trying to collect a Medicare number. The safe routine treats both the same way: you start the contact, through a channel you looked up.
October 15 to December 7. A plan must get your request by December 7 for coverage starting January 1 (Medicare.gov).
Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment runs January 1 to March 31, only for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan.
1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), TTY 1-877-486-2048, 24 hours a day except some federal holidays.
Who is allowed to ask for your Medicare number
Medicare.gov’s page on your Medicare card is short and clear: “Only give personal information, like your Medicare Number, to health care providers.” It adds that Medicare will never call you uninvited to ask for personal information. If a caller asks for information or money, or threatens to cancel your benefits, the page says to hang up and call 1-800-MEDICARE.
The fraud-reporting page goes further: “Medicare will never call you to sell you anything or visit you at your home.” It lists the limited cases where Medicare or someone representing it might call and ask for information, such as an agent returning your call after you joined a plan, reported fraud or left a message.
| Contact | Can they ask for your number? | Safe action |
|---|---|---|
| Your doctor, pharmacy or hospital | Yes, for your care and billing | Give it as usual |
| An unexpected caller saying they are “from Medicare” | Medicare says it will not call uninvited for personal information | Hang up; call 1-800-MEDICARE yourself |
| A caller offering a “free plan review” or extra benefits | No reason to give it before you choose a plan | “I don’t share my number by phone. Send information by mail.” |
| An agent you contacted yourself | Only when you decide to enroll in a plan you chose | Check the agent’s license with your state insurance department |
| Someone at your door | Unsolicited door-to-door marketing is prohibited for Medicare plans | Do not let them in; take no forms |
What plan marketers may not do
Federal marketing rules for Medicare Advantage and drug plans, in 42 CFR 422.2264, prohibit unsolicited “door to door solicitation, including leaving information of any kind,” and “telephone solicitation (that is, cold calling), robocalls, text messages, or voicemail messages.” Calls are not unsolicited if you gave consent or contacted the plan first, which is one more reason to be careful with “request more information” forms and reply cards.
Unsolicited email is allowed under the same rule, as long as every email has an opt-out. A marketing email is therefore not proof of fraud, but it is not a reason to act either.
A comparison routine that never needs a stranger
- Gather your list first. Write down your doctors, pharmacies and every prescription with its dose. A plan comparison is only as good as this list.
- Open the Plan Finder yourself. Type medicare.gov into the browser and use Find a Medicare plan. The FTC’s September 28, 2026 open-enrollment alert says to type Medicare.gov directly rather than clicking an ad, because scammers use look-alike addresses, and to scroll past results labeled “Ad” or “Sponsored.”
- Get free, unbiased help if you want it. Your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) offers one-on-one counseling at no cost. Find your local office through shiphelp.org.
- Decide before anyone calls. A shortlist on paper makes it easy to say “I’ve already chosen” to a caller.
- Enroll through the plan or Medicare. Use the Plan Finder, 1-800-MEDICARE, or the plan’s phone number from its official materials.
- Watch for the plan’s welcome letter. If one arrives for a plan you did not choose, call 1-800-MEDICARE.
Sorting the mail and email that arrive
Open enrollment mail is a mix of genuine plan documents, legitimate advertising and the occasional imitation. You do not have to judge each piece. Sort it by what it asks you to do.
| It asks you to | Typical example | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Read | Your current plan’s notice of changes for next year, a plan’s summary of benefits | Keep it with your list of doctors and drugs and compare in the Plan Finder |
| Call a number for a “review” | A postcard about extra benefits or “money back” | Look the plan up in the Plan Finder yourself; calling the card’s number counts as you contacting them |
| Return a reply card with your details | “Request your free guide” cards | Expect sales calls if you send it; the marketing rule treats your request as consent |
| Click a link or scan a code | Emails and texts that look official | Type medicare.gov yourself instead |
| Act because your coverage “will end” | Threats of cancellation | Call 1-800-MEDICARE; Medicare.gov tells you to hang up on callers who threaten to cancel benefits |
The third row surprises many people. Sending a reply card or filling in an online form is the kind of consent that makes a later call permitted under the marketing rule, so only send one if you actually want a call.
Phrases that should end a call
None of these prove a caller is a criminal, but each one is a reason to hang up and use the routine above:
- “I’m calling from Medicare about your benefits.” Medicare says it does not call to sell.
- “Your card is being replaced; I just need to confirm your number.”
- “You qualify for extra money back on your Social Security check, I just need to verify you.”
- “This offer ends today.” Open Enrollment runs to December 7, and Medicare Advantage members have a second window from January 1.
- “We’ll send a gift card for your time.” Medicare.gov’s list of things not to do includes accepting offers of money or gifts for free medical care.
Medicare.gov’s “Don’t” list also includes joining a health or drug plan over the phone “unless you called and asked for help.” That one line covers most open-enrollment trouble.
Help a parent without taking over
If you are helping an older relative, sit with them at the Plan Finder rather than calling on their behalf. Keep their card in their wallet, not on a shared note. Agree on one sentence they can use with any caller: “My daughter helps me with Medicare. Send it in the mail.” Our callback routine for when a company calls you first works the same way for Medicare, banks and pharmacies.
If you already gave your number to a caller
Do not panic, and do not blame yourself; these calls are practised and persistent. Take these steps:
- Call 1-800-MEDICARE and say you gave your number to an unsolicited caller.
- Contact your Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP), which helps beneficiaries prevent, detect and report health care fraud, through smpresource.org or 877-808-2468.
- Read every Medicare Summary Notice and plan statement for the next few months for services or equipment you did not receive.
- For suspected fraud involving a Medicare drug or Advantage plan, Medicare.gov lists the I-MEDIC line, 1-877-7SAFERX (1-877-772-3379).
- Report the caller to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
If you also shared a Social Security number or bank details, our 30-minute lock-down plan covers the next steps for those.
Medicare is not the Marketplace
The Health Insurance Marketplace has its own enrollment window, which the FTC lists as November 1 to January 15, and its own call problems. If someone in your household buys coverage there, see our guide to health-plan calls during Marketplace open enrollment. The FTC held a roundtable with CMS and the SMP/SHIP Resource Center on September 29, 2026, noting that scammers “often work overtime during Open Enrollment for both Medicare and the Health Insurance Marketplace.”
Sources
- Medicare.gov: Joining a plan
- Medicare.gov: Your Medicare card
- Medicare.gov: Reporting Medicare fraud and abuse
- 42 CFR 422.2264 (Cornell LII)
- CMS: Contract Year 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D final rule fact sheet
- FTC: What to know ahead of Open Enrollment (September 28, 2026)
- FTC roundtable, September 29, 2026
- SHIP National Technical Assistance Center
- SMP Resource Center