Key Takeaways
- Social Security said it’s starting this week to confirm that people on Medicare are U.S. citizens or nationals, green card holders, Cuban-Haitian entrants or Compact of Free Association migrants.
- Beneficiaries whose status it can’t confirm will get a letter, and if they don’t prove an eligible status, their Medicare ends Feb. 1, 2027.
- Losing Medicare means losing the Part B coverage most people pay $202.90 a month for in 2026, along with Part A and any Medicare Advantage or drug plan.
- Anyone who gets the letter should send the documents it asks for right away, and that includes people who do qualify but whose status Social Security couldn’t confirm.
Most retirees will never get this letter. But Social Security said it’s starting this week to confirm who’s still eligible for Medicare, and anyone it can’t confirm could lose coverage on Feb. 1, 2027.
That’s less than three months to answer a letter that’s easy to mistake for routine mail, with the holidays in between.
Only four groups qualify now
Section 71201 of Public Law 119-21 limits Medicare to four groups: U.S. citizens and nationals, lawful permanent residents (green card holders), Cuban-Haitian entrants and Compact of Free Association migrants. CMS calls the law the “Working Families Tax Cuts” legislation, and most people know it as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Nobody outside those four groups can get Part A or Part B, or join a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan. Other noncitizens who were lawfully present used to qualify. Now refugees, asylees, Temporary Protected Status holders and parolees don’t, unless they also hold one of the four statuses.
People who already had Medicare on July 4, 2025, the day the law was signed, got an 18-month grace period. CMS published its final rule putting the change into effect in the Federal Register on Nov. 9. For anyone who doesn’t confirm an eligible status, Medicare ends Feb. 1, 2027. And anyone turning 65 now has to show citizenship or an eligible status to sign up.
6 safe dividend stocks paying retirees 6%+ yields
There are over 100 stocks paying 6%+ annual dividends today.
But after an extensive investment review leveraging TIKR’s proprietary data, we now believe only six of them are truly safe for retirees.
They’re all yours for free as part of our new investment report, which you can access right here.
Watch the mailbox
Social Security is checking people already on Medicare. The ones it can’t confirm will get a notice that their coverage may end Feb. 1 unless they prove they’re eligible. The letter comes from Social Security, or from the Railroad Retirement Board for railroad retirees. It has instructions on how to send documents that confirm U.S. citizenship or an eligible immigration status.
For a noncitizen on Medicare without one of the four statuses, no document will change the result. But people who do qualify can get the letter too, if Social Security can’t confirm their status from its records. I’d guess that includes some naturalized citizens whose Social Security records still list them as noncitizens.
And a noncitizen who collects Social Security can still lose Medicare. Social Security benefits follow their own rules, and the new law didn’t change them. So the monthly check keeps coming even after the coverage stops.
What’s on the line Feb. 1
Most people with Part B pay $202.90 a month for it this year, and Part B starts paying after a $283 deductible. For that, they get the doctor visits and outpatient care Part B covers. If Medicare ends, Part A’s hospital coverage goes with it. So does any Medicare Advantage or Part D plan, since only the four groups can join one.
That’s a lot to lose at an age when coverage is hard to replace. One small mercy: CMS has chosen not to go after what Medicare paid for care before someone’s coverage ends.
Don’t sit on the letter
Fortunately, for anyone who does qualify, the fix is paperwork. Follow the letter’s instructions and send the documents it asks for as soon as you can, since coverage ends Feb. 1 and mail and processing take time. If Medicare is ended or denied anyway, you can appeal in writing.
Someone who loses Medicare and later gets a qualifying status, like a green card, can come back. The final rule sets up a special enrollment period for people who gain or regain an eligible status. That way they don’t have to wait for Medicare’s usual windows: the 7 months around the 65th birthday, or January 1 to March 31 each year.
Make the phone call this week
The way I see it, most people reading this won’t get one of these letters. But you may have a parent, an in-law or a neighbor who came to the U.S. later in life. If so, a five-minute call to make sure they watch for the letter, and open it, could save their coverage. A letter with a deadline is the worst kind to leave in a pile.
And CMS will keep ending coverage after Feb. 1 for people it finds ineligible later. So a letter that shows up in the spring needs the same fast answer.
Enjoy your retirement in style with these safe 6%+ dividend yields
Dividends can hold the key to enormous wealth. But only if you buy the right ones.
Picking the right high-yield dividend stock can be the difference between a dream retirement…and scraping by every month, waiting for the next Social Security check to clear.
We’ve identified six stocks yielding 6%+ that we believe every retiree should know about right now.
Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
