How a Government Shutdown Affects Your Medicare

Older Americans still can get their medical care, prescriptions and hospital services. But other assistance may be delayed or stopped

Tony Pugh and Dena Bunis, AARP

Updated October 01, 2025

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En español

Published January 19, 2024

/ Updated October 01, 2025

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Key takeaways

The usual Medicare benefits aren’t affected.
Program is safe from budget process. But some delays will occur.
Online enrollment continues on Social Security website.
Mailed Medicare replacement cards may be delayed.
Coverage for most telehealth appointments is halted.

Congress stopped working to avert a government shutdown at the end of the federal fiscal year, ensuring an impasse of uncertain duration that began Oct. 1.

Congressional Democrats opposed the GOP's proposed short-term fix, calling instead for negotiating on a bill that boosts health care spending to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits that expire at the end of 2025.

But older and disabled Americans do have some good news: Your Medicare benefits will not be 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 can still 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 is on leave

Yet Medicare beneficiaries could face some lag in services.

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

Fewer workers mean people who need help from a Medicare representative could, for example, encounter longer wait times when contacting the Medicare hotline at 800-633-4227, even though it will continue to operate. In addition, providers waiting for payment may 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 remain open, but expect fewer workers to help you enroll. Buyouts earlier this year already have strained SSA field office staffing, and some who remain may might be placed on leave.

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

Replacement Medicare cards may be delayed

The SSA is also responsible for administering Medicare cards and says that during a shutdown it won’t be able to replace lost cards. That 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 online Social Security account and look at your benefit verification letter.

Routine telehealth coverage has expired

Medicare’s enhanced coverage of home telehealth services that began in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic has ended.

But Medicare is encouraging providers to keep performing telehealth services and to wait to file a claim for reimbursement until after the shutdown ends. AARP is urging beneficiaries to check with their providers to see how they’re handling the situation.

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. Because the provisions have been allowed to expire, Medicare is returning to reimbursement policies in effect before 2020 that permitted the convenience for only a limited number of beneficiaries.

Still uncertain is whether private Medicare Advantage insurers and state Medicaid programs will curb their telehealth coverage because Medicare often sets the standard for other insurers. Medicaid is a federal and state program that covers health and long-term care costs for people with limited income and assets.

Learn how AARP is fighting for you

On Medicare and Social Security, as well as other issues that matter to people 50-plus, AARP is your fierce defender.

Sign up to help protect the programs.
Read more about how AARP fights for you every day in Congress and across the country.
See the latest AARP research on Medicare and more.

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

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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