How Your Medicare is Affected in a Government Shutdown

Older Americans’ medical care, prescriptions and hospital services continue. But other assistance may be delayed or stopped

Tony Pugh and Dena Bunis, AARP

Updated November 12, 2025

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En español

Published January 19, 2024

/ Updated November 12, 2025

AARP (Getty Images)

Key takeaways

The usual Medicare benefits aren’t affected.
Program is safe from budget process. But some delays occur.
Online enrollment continues on Social Security website.
Replacement Medicare cards can be requested online.
Previous coverage for telehealth appointments resumes.

The president signed a bill late Nov. 12 to end a government shutdown that began Oct. 1 and is now the longest on record.

Most congressional Democrats have opposed the GOP’s short-term fix, calling instead for negotiations on a bill to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits that expire at the end of 2025.

The bill, which passed the Senate on Monday and the House earlier Wednesday, doesn't continue the ACA enhanced premium tax credits beyond the end of the year but does have provisions to extend federal programs that expired Sept. 30 until Jan. 30. That includes Medicare home telehealth services expanded during the pandemic.

But throughout this shutdown and any other, older and disabled Americans have had some good news: Most Medicare benefits have not been disrupted.

Medicare doesn’t depend on budget process

Unlike most government services, which rely on Congress to appropriate money for them to operate each year, some vital programs, such as Medicare and Social Security, are paid for under a category called “mandatory spending.”

That means the nearly 70 million Americans who get their health care through Medicare are still able to go to the doctor, get hospital care and fill their prescriptions for medications without interruption, even when regular federal spending lapses.

But about half the agency’s staff gets put on leave

Yet Medicare beneficiaries do face some lag in services during a shutdown.

A 2025 shutdown plan for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said a little less than half of the agency’s staff were furloughed.

Fewer workers mean people who need help from a Medicare representative could encounter longer wait times when contacting the Medicare hotline at 800-633-4227, even though it continues to operate. In addition, providers waiting for payment see delays, and other administrative services may be curtailed.

Medicare enrollment isn’t affected

During a shutdown, people who are about to turn 65 or have a disability that qualifies them for Medicare still can apply for the program. While CMS runs the Medicare program, the Social Security Administration (SSA) handles enrollment, and applications for enrollment are available on Social Security’s website.

Local Social Security offices and phone lines will remain open but have fewer workers to help you enroll. Buyouts in early 2025 reduced SSA field office staffing even before the usual furloughs.

The SSA is responsible for automatically deducting enrollees’ Part B premiums from their monthly benefit payments, and that continues. Medicare Part B pays for doctor visits and other outpatient services.

Replacement Medicare cards can be obtained online

The SSA is in charge of administering Medicare cards and says that during a shutdown, beneficiaries can request replacement cards online if they have a My Social Security account.

If you lose your card, it shouldn’t affect your ability to get medical care:

Enrollment information is available to you and your providers at Medicare.gov.
You can print an official copy of your Medicare card from your online Medicare account.

You also can see your Medicare number when you sign in to your secure My Social Security account and look at your benefit verification letter.

Routine telehealth coverage reinstated temporarily

Medicare’s enhanced coverage of home telehealth services that began in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic technically ended with the beginning of the shutdown. But a temporary extension to cover the services retroactively from Oct. 1 to Jan. 30 of next year is part of the new continuing resolution.

Medicare was encouraging providers to keep performing telehealth services and to wait to file a claim for reimbursement until after end of the shutdown. AARP is urging beneficiaries to check with their providers for the best information.

Telehealth, also called telemedicine, uses the internet, video conferencing and wireless communications to provide health services remotely, removing the need for some in-person doctor visits.

AARP and other organizations continue to urge Congress to pass a separate bill that would make the pandemic-era Medicare coverage of telehealth permanent. If the provisions were allowed to expire permanently, Medicare would have to return to reimbursement policies in effect before 2020 that permitted the convenience for only a limited number of beneficiaries.

Join our fight to protect Medicare

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This story, originally written Jan. 19, 2024, has been updated with information about the 2025 federal government shutdown ending.

Tony Pugh is an award-winning writer and editor covering Medicare for AARP. He has also covered Medicare for Bloomberg Law and as a national correspondent for Knight Ridder/McClatchy Newspapers.

Dena Bunis covered Medicare, health care, health policy and Congress. She also wrote the “Medicare Made Easy” column for the AARP Bulletin. An award-winning journalist, Bunis spent decades working for metropolitan daily newspapers, including as Washington bureau chief for the Orange County Register and as a health policy and workplace writer for Newsday.

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