The rule turns on who started the contact. A call is not unsolicited if you gave consent or reached out first: returning your call, or calling you after you sent back a reply card asking for information, is allowed. A plan may also call people who are already its members about plan business, and it must tell them in writing at least once a year how to opt out of those calls. Mail, advertising and email are allowed without asking first, as long as every email carries a way to opt out. JCKC is a Medicare marketing entity too, so these rules bind us as well.
| Contact | Allowed if you did not ask for it? |
|---|---|
| Cold call, robocall, text or voicemail | No |
| A call based on a referral from someone else | No |
| A call after a sales event you attended | Only with your express permission |
| A direct message on social media | No |
| A visit to your home | Only with an appointment you made |
| Approaching you in a parking lot, hallway or lobby | No |
| Mail, advertising, or email with an opt-out | Yes |
| A call returning yours or answering your reply card | Yes |
What counts as permission
Permission means you started the contact or said yes to it. Sending a reply card or a form asking to be contacted, calling a plan or an agent yourself, or giving express permission at a sales event all count. A referral does not: a friend passing on your number does not give an agent the right to call you. Before a personal marketing appointment the agent must also agree with you on a Scope of Appointment, which records the products you want to discuss, in writing if you meet in person. It lasts 12 months, and the agent may not use the meeting to sell anything outside it, or products that have nothing to do with health, such as annuities.
What Medicare itself does
Medicare does not call you to sell you anything and does not visit your home. Medicare.gov says Medicare, or someone representing it, calls and asks for personal information only in limited situations, such as an agent returning your call after you joined a plan. It also advises against joining a health or drug plan over the phone unless you were the one who called and asked for help, and against giving your Medicare Number to anyone except your doctor and people you know should have it, such as your insurer.
What to do next
If an unsolicited call, text or voicemail about a Medicare plan reaches you, do not give out your Medicare Number and do not enroll on that call. Note the date, the number and the company named, then report it as suspected fraud to 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or through the fraud reporting form on Medicare.gov. If you want help with a 2027 plan, choose who you talk to. You can call us, in English, Spanish, French or Haitian Creole, and we will go through the options from the carriers we represent.
Read the full guide: Medicare calls and scams: what to check
Related questions
Can an agent call me if I filled out an online form?
Yes, if the form asked to be contacted. A call that answers a request you made is not unsolicited, and any appointment that follows still needs a Scope of Appointment.
Can my current plan call me?
Yes, about plan business. A plan may call its own members, for example about other Medicare products it offers, and must tell you in writing at least once a year how to opt out of those calls.
Where do I report an unwanted Medicare sales call?
Report suspected fraud to 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or through the fraud reporting form on Medicare.gov. Write down the caller’s number, the date and the company they named.
Sources
- 42 CFR 422.2264, Beneficiary contact — Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (Office of the Federal Register) · read 2026-10-30
- 42 CFR 423.2264, Beneficiary contact — Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (Office of the Federal Register) · read 2026-10-30
- Reporting Medicare fraud & abuse — Medicare.gov (CMS) · read 2026-10-30
This page explains published rules and figures, with the source for each one. It is not advice about your own situation.