What should I do if my Medicare Part D plan says that I haven't paid my monthly premiums and will be disenrolled from my drug plan.

Contact your Medicare plan immediately. A Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan can “involuntarily" disenroll you from the plan if you fail to pay your monthly premiums - and once disenrolled, you may be without prescription drug coverage for the remainder of the year - unless you can use a Special Enrollment Period to join another Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan.

Also, if you lose your Medicare Part D coverage, you may accumulate a permanent late-enrollment premium penalty for every month that you are without some form of creditable prescription drug coverage.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have implemented a number of "safe-guards" to protect Medicare beneficiaries who inadvertently missed a premium payment and require Medicare plans to contact you about the unpaid premiums and provide "a consistent grace period of no less than two (2) months".

If you receive a notification that your Medicare plan premium is unpaid, telephone the Medicare plan’s Member Services department immediately (the toll-free number is on your Member ID card and most printed plan documents) and arrange to make the payments.

If you find that you have already been disenrolled from your Medicare plan, you can still contact your plan’s Member Services department and, if you have “good cause” for why your Medicare plan premium was not paid, ask to pay the unpaid premiums and be reinstated in the plan.

If you need more assistance, ask to speak with a Member Services supervisor or call a Medicare representative at 1-800-Medicare (1-800-633-4227).

Please click here for more Questions and Answers related to Medicare plan disenrollment.

References see:

Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Manual, Chapter 3 - Eligibility, Enrollment and Disenrollment, Updated: August 19, 2011, (Revised: August 15, 2023))
See also FAQ: Update: CMS combines the 2025 CMS Medicare Manual Enrollment Disenrollment guidance for Medicare Advantage plans (Chapter 2) and stand-alone Medicare Part D PDPs (Chapter 3)