For the family

Helping a parent with Medicare: the form nobody mentions

Short answer: start with paperwork, not plans. Medicare will not discuss your parent’s coverage, claims, or bills with you unless they have authorized it in writing, and a general power of attorney is usually not enough on its own. Get the authorization filed first, then work through a short annual review: the Annual Notice of Change, the drug list, the doctors, and whether they qualify for help paying for any of it. Most families discover savings in the fourth item, and most conflict comes from skipping straight to telling a parent what to do.

By the Medicare Decoder team · Updated September 30, 2026 · 4-minute read · Figures are official CMS amounts, checked against CMS

Key takeaways

Medicare requires a written authorization (form CMS-10106) before it will share a beneficiary’s information with you, even with power of attorney.
Social Security handles enrollment, premiums, and IRMAA separately, with its own representative process.
The yearly review is four things: the ANOC, the drug list, the doctors, and eligibility for cost help.
Medicare Savings Programs and Extra Help are widely unclaimed and can cut or eliminate premiums and drug costs.
Free unbiased counseling through SHIP works for family members helping too, not only beneficiaries.

Jump to The paperwork first The yearly review The money nobody claims Helping without taking over FAQ

The paperwork, before anything else

The most common wall families hit is a phone call where Medicare politely refuses to tell you anything. That is by design, and the fix is specific:

What you need	What it does	How to get it
Medicare authorization (form CMS-10106)	Lets 1-800-MEDICARE and Medicare discuss claims, coverage, and enrollment with you	Your parent completes and signs it; available at Medicare.gov or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE
Access to their Medicare account	Lets you see claims, plan details, and drug lists directly	Your parent creates the account at Medicare.gov and shares access
Social Security representative arrangements	Needed separately for enrollment, premiums, IRMAA, and Extra Help questions	Ask Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 which form fits your situation
Authorization with their plan	Private Advantage and Part D plans have their own forms	Call the plan number on their card and ask for the personal representative form

A general power of attorney is often insufficient on its own for Medicare disclosures, which surprises most families. File the Medicare-specific authorization even if a POA exists.

Do this while it is easy. Families who wait until there is a crisis end up trying to complete forms during a hospital stay, when the person who must sign may not be in a position to.

The yearly review, in four parts

The Annual Notice of Change. It arrives each September and discloses next year’s premium, deductible, drug tiers, network, and out-of-pocket maximum. Five numbers, ten minutes.
The drug list. Gather the actual bottles, then run them through the official Plan Finder sorted by total annual cost. This is where most savings hide. Click by click.
The doctors. If they are on Medicare Advantage, call each must-keep office and confirm the plan by name for next year. Directories are unreliable; offices are not.
Whether they need to change anything at all. Often the answer is no, and saying so out loud is the point of the stay-or-switch article.

The money nobody claims

If your parent’s income is modest, check two programs before anything else, because they are worth more than any plan switch. Medicare Savings Programs can pay the Part B premium outright, which raises their Social Security deposit immediately, and in the QMB tier also cover deductibles and coinsurance. Extra Help cuts drug costs to a few dollars per prescription, and qualifying for a Savings Program usually qualifies them for Extra Help automatically. Millions of eligible people never apply, often because nobody in the family knew these existed.

Also worth knowing: if bills are already arriving that look wrong, denials are appealable and appeals are won regularly, and if they were recently hospitalized, check whether they were admitted or under observation status, which changes what Medicare pays and what a nursing facility stay would cost.

Helping without taking over

The practical advice most families need is not about Medicare at all. Bring the paperwork, do the research, and present findings rather than decisions: "Your plan is dropping Dr. Reyes next year, here are two plans that keep her," lands very differently than "I signed you up for a new plan." The decision is theirs while they are capable of making it, and treating it that way tends to produce better decisions and far less friction. If you disagree, the neutral third party is free: a SHIP counselor will walk through the options with both of you, earns no commission, and carries no family history.

One last thing worth doing together, once: write down their Medicare number, plan names, plan phone numbers, pharmacy, doctors, and prescriptions on a single page, and keep a copy each. In an emergency, that page is the difference between a five-minute phone call and an afternoon of hold music.

Questions people also ask

Can I talk to Medicare on behalf of my parent?

Only if they have authorized it in writing. Medicare requires an authorization form (CMS-10106) before sharing information about claims, coverage, or enrollment, and a general power of attorney is often not sufficient on its own. Private plans require their own separate authorization forms.

What do I need to help my parent with Medicare?

A signed Medicare authorization form, shared access to their Medicare account, separate arrangements with Social Security for enrollment and premium questions, and authorization with their Advantage or Part D plan. Set these up before a crisis, not during one.

What should we review each year?

Four things: the Annual Notice of Change that arrives in September, their exact prescription list run through the Plan Finder, whether their doctors remain in network for next year, and whether they qualify for Medicare Savings Programs or Extra Help.

How can I help my parent afford Medicare?

Check Medicare Savings Programs, which can pay the Part B premium and sometimes deductibles and coinsurance, and Extra Help, which reduces drug costs substantially. Qualifying for a Savings Program generally qualifies someone for Extra Help automatically, and both are widely unclaimed.

Is there free help for family caregivers navigating Medicare?

Yes. State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) counselors provide free, unbiased guidance and will work with family members who are helping, and 1-800-MEDICARE is available 24 hours a day once authorization is on file.

Sources for this article

Medicare.govMedicare.gov: authorization to disclose personal health information, account access, and the helpline.
Medicare.govMedicare Savings Programs: the programs that pay premiums and cost sharing.
SSA.govSocial Security and Medicare: enrollment, premiums, and representative arrangements.

Figures checked against these sources on September 30, 2026. We update within days when CMS publishes new amounts.

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