Gather Personal Information

Enrolling in Medicare or changing your coverage is not hard, but it can be confusing. It’s a good idea to pull together the information you’ll need for enrollment before you begin.

You’ll need the same basic personal information to enroll, no matter what your Medicare choices are. This includes the usual things such as your birth date and address. But you'll also need things like insurance policy numbers that you may not have at your fingertips.

Review the list on this page to make sure you have what you need. And if you don’t have a file to hold all your Medicare information and papers, this might be a good time to start one.

Information you need for enrollment

You may want to gather the following information so it’s handy when you need it.

• Birth date
• Permanent residence address
• Phone number
• Email address
• Emergency contact information
• Medicare claim number and effective date (located on your red, white and blue Medicare card)
• Name and policy numbers of other insurance plans (member ID or group number)
• If you live in a long-term care facility:
  • Name of institution
  • Address and phone number
• Contact information for current health care professionals:
  • Names and addresses for doctors, hospitals, specialists and pharmacies
• List of current prescription drugs and dosages
• Current health conditions and treatments
• If you want to set up automatic premium payments (such as an electronic funds transfer from a bank account):
  • Account holder name
  • Bank routing number
  • Bank account number
  • Account type