Junk Mail Magic

Separate Medicare plan brochures from official mail

Mail that mentions Medicare may come from Medicare or from a private plan selling coverage. Medicare distinguishes its official account and coverage correspondence from plan marketing. To sort a piece, identify who sent it and what it asks you to do. Only confirmed plan sales mail should be treated as advertising.

By Junk Mail Magic. Updated .

Sort by sender, then by purpose

  1. Read the return address and the name in the signature block. A government-style envelope or a logo does not prove who sent the piece.
  2. Note what the piece appears to concern: your coverage, enrollment, payment or a sales offer. Keep a claimed deadline or account change as an unresolved item until verified. Plan information can also appear in official Medicare publications.
  3. Record each piece on the worksheet in one of three groups: account or coverage, plan sales, or unsure.
  4. For each unsure piece, look up the sender through the official Medicare website or contact details you already have for your plan, not the number printed on the mailing.

Pieces that belong in the unsure group

Plan mail can show your name, a plan name or a date, which makes it look official. Those details do not tell you whether it is a sales piece. Anything that mentions a deadline stays in the unsure group until you have verified it.

The worksheet sorts mail only. It does not recommend a plan.

Private sorting worksheet

Example for your own use. Replace the bracketed details and review what you share.

Piece: [short description] Sender named: [name] Return address: [address] What it asks me to do: [action and deadline, or none] Group: [account or coverage / plan sales / unsure] How I verified: [official Medicare site / known plan contact / not yet] Next step: [keep / ask sender about ads / call Medicare]

Handling confirmed plan sales mail

When a piece is confirmed as marketing from a named private plan, contact that company through details you verified and ask whether it offers a way to stop its mailed advertising. Leave the account group alone. Keep each unsure piece until you have an answer, then move it into the right group.

Official source

Find the official digital Medicare handbook optionKeep Medicare account letters out of junk-mail requestsKeep benefit renewal letters separate from advertisingSeparate an insurance explanation from a sales offerKeep important mailAll practical mail guides

Keep personal records with the organization that handles them

Junk Mail Magic is for ordinary unwanted advertising. Use the official contact route in this guide for records, account changes or someone else’s correspondence.

Compare removal routes