Verify Your Medicare Number: A Simple Guide

Medicare is a federally funded and operated program designed to provide health coverage to individuals age 65 years and over and certain disabled individuals. A Medicare number must be confirmed for insurance billing purposes so claims can be submitted to Medicare. Otherwise, the patient would be liable for the medical bill in its entirety.

Things You'll Need

• Medicare cards
• Social Security number
• Date of birth and other identifying information of the patient

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Instructions

• 1

  Call 1-800-MEDICARE if you are trying to verify Medicare Part A hospital or Part B outpatient medical benefits. The Medicare number for Part A and B benefits is formatted as xxx-xx-xxxx-y, with the x's being the individuals Social Security number and the y being an A for the Part A number and B for the Part B number.

• 2

  Review the Medicare card(s) for Part D prescription coverage, Medigap and Medicare Advantage plans. These plans are provided by independent insurance companies, not Medicare, so there is not one set number to contact to verify the insurance number. The number to call is typically listed on the back of the insurance card.

• 3

  Contact the Part D, Medigap, and/or Medicare Advantage provider at the number listed on the card. You can obtain this number from the insurance provider's website if you do not have the insurance card. If you do not have the individual's insurance number, you can contact the provider with the individual's Social Security number and other identifying information in order to obtain the number and verify whether the individual has active coverage.