Do I have to re-enroll in Medicare every year?

The short answer

You do not re-enroll. Once you have Medicare, you have it.

Parts A and B continue automatically. Your Part B premium continues to be deducted, usually from Social Security. Your Medicare number does not change. There is no annual form, no renewal application, and no risk of losing Medicare because you failed to do something in the autumn.

Medicare Advantage and Part D plans also generally renew automatically into the following year.

What you should do every year

Review is a different thing from re-enroll, and it is the part that matters.

Carriers may revise a plan annually. The plan that renews on January 1 is next year's version, which can differ from this year's in premium, deductible, copays, drug formulary, pharmacy network, provider network and extra benefits.

None of that requires your agreement. You are moved into the revised plan unless you choose otherwise during Annual Enrollment, October 15 through December 7.

So: no paperwork required, but a ten-minute check strongly advised. What that check looks like is in what happens if you do nothing during Annual Enrollment.

Where the annual figures change

Some numbers are set by Medicare rather than your carrier, and they move each year regardless of which plan you hold.

Part A and Part B figures are announced each autumn for the following year. For 2026, the standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month with a $283 annual deductible, and the Part A hospital deductible is $1,736 per benefit period. The 2027 amounts for Parts A and B are published by Medicare in the autumn.

The exceptions worth knowing

A few situations do require action, and they are the ones people miss.

Your plan is discontinued. If the carrier withdraws it or leaves your county, you will get a non-renewal notice. Doing nothing then can leave you without drug coverage, which also risks a late enrollment penalty.

You move. Medicare Advantage and Part D plans are regional. Moving out of the service area, even within North Carolina, generally requires a new plan and triggers a Special Enrollment Period. Details in Medicare Special Enrollment Periods.

You gain or lose Extra Help or Medicaid. A change in either affects your costs and can open its own enrollment opportunity.

You are still working at 65. How Medicare coordinates with employer coverage has its own rules, covered in do I have to enroll in Medicare at 65 if I am still working.

What arrives each autumn

Two documents come from your plan in September, and one comes from Medicare.

The Annual Notice of Change is the short one and the important one. It lists exactly what is different next year.

The Evidence of Coverage is the long one, the full contract, useful for looking something up rather than reading through.

The Medicare & You handbook comes from Medicare itself and covers the programme generally rather than your specific plan.

If you read one thing, read the Annual Notice of Change. It is covered in why did my Medicare plan change for next year.

Why the confusion exists

Much of it comes from advertising. From October onward, television and mail create an impression that something must be done or an opportunity will be lost.

Nothing must be done. Your coverage is not at risk. What the advertising is really selling is a plan switch, which may or may not be right for you.

The honest version is quieter: your coverage continues, your plan may have changed, and ten minutes with the September letter tells you whether that matters.

What people are usually really asking

The question often comes from one of three worries, and each has a different answer.

"Will I lose my Medicare if I ignore this?" No. Parts A and B continue for life.

"Will my plan drop me?" Almost never. Plans renew. The exception is if the carrier discontinues the plan or leaves your county, and in that case you receive a specific notice and usually extra time to choose something else.

"Am I supposed to be doing something?" Not required. Recommended. Ten minutes with the September notice.

A once-a-year habit worth building

The households that never get caught out do the same small thing each autumn.

When the September envelope arrives, they put it somewhere visible rather than filing it. In late October they spend ten minutes checking three things: medications still on the same tiers, doctors still in network, premium and deductible roughly as expected.

If all three are clean, they do nothing and stop thinking about it. If one is not, they have until December 7.

That is the entire discipline. It is not complicated and it is not time-consuming. It is simply easy to skip, and skipping it is how a quiet tier change becomes a January surprise.

One thing that is genuinely automatic

If you are receiving Social Security, your Part B premium is deducted from your benefit without you arranging it. If you are not yet drawing Social Security, Medicare bills you directly, usually quarterly, and that bill does need paying.

Missing those payments is one of the few ways Medicare coverage can genuinely lapse, so it is worth knowing which of the two situations applies to you.

If you are new to Medicare this year

Your first year works differently from every year after it, and the distinction is worth drawing.

Getting onto Medicare in the first place is a one-time enrolment tied to your 65th birthday or to when you otherwise qualify. That has real deadlines and real penalties for missing them. After that first enrolment, nothing needs repeating.

So someone who has just turned 65 and someone who has been on Medicare for a decade are asking two different questions with the same words. The new enrollee needs to act. The established one needs only to review. The first-year rules are in when can I enroll in Medicare.

How The Jordan Insurance Agency helps

The Jordan Insurance Agency is an independent agency in Charlotte, North Carolina. Each autumn we check whether anything in your plan actually moved and tell you plainly whether it is worth acting on.

Often the answer is no, and that is a perfectly good answer. We would rather tell you your plan still fits than switch you to something for the sake of it. There is no cost, and your premium is the same whether you review with us or not.