Nonprofit ยท Medicare Rights Center
Medicare Rights Center national helpline
Free phone counseling for people with Medicare, their families and caregivers on benefits, denials and appeals, and cost-saving programs. Spanish is available. It covers Medicare only.
Know before you go
Call 800-333-4114. Trained staff and volunteers answer questions about Medicare benefits, enrollment, appealing denials and cost-saving programs. The pages we read describe counseling and step-by-step help; they do not say staff will file your appeal for you. It does not cover job-based or Medicaid-only coverage. It is a private nonprofit, not Medicare itself: to ask Medicare about a claim, call 1-800-MEDICARE. Counselors are available Monday through Friday, according to the Medicare Interactive contact page.
- Cost
- Free (the page calls it a free national helpline)
- Where
- Nationwide
- How to start
- Call 800-333-4114. For Spanish, call the same number and press 8 when you hear the operator message.
- Phone
- 800-333-4114, as printed on the provider's page
- Have ready
- Your Medicare card or number; The denial notice or Medicare Summary Notice; The name of your Medicare Advantage or Part D plan, if you have one
Where this comes from
- Provider
- Medicare Rights Center
- Source we read
- https://www.medicarerights.org/counseling-and-advocacy
- Date we read it
- . This is not a fresh check.
- Date the provider printed
- Not displayed
- What we checked
- We read the provider's public page. We have not verified availability, eligibility or outcomes for any individual.
Other starting points
- Program or service
1-800-MEDICARE: talk to a person about Medicare
The Medicare phone line and live chat, open all day every day. Staff can point you to the right step for a complaint, and can pass an unresolved complaint to the Medicare Beneficiary Ombudsman.
From Medicare (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
- Program or service
American Cancer Society 24-hour helpline
A phone and chat line staffed around the clock by cancer information specialists who answer questions and connect you to services. It is an information and referral line, not an appeals service.
From American Cancer Society
- Program or service
An Arm and a Leg: First Aid Kit
An archive of articles and starter packs from the podcast An Arm and a Leg, including a starter pack on what to do if you are in collections for medical debt. General reporting on health care costs, not appeal steps.
From An Arm and a Leg