Beware of health care cons during open enrollment
Milwaukee, Wis. – If you are adding or changing your Medicare or Healthcare.gov coverage during open enrollment, watch out for unsolicited calls claiming to “help” you find the best deal. Unfortunately, scammers see this open enrollment period as a chance to trick people out of money and personal information. Open enrollment runs through December 7 (Medicare) or December 15 (Healthcare.gov).
How the scam works
Open enrollment has just begun, but BBB Scam Tracker has already gotten numerous reports of scam calls pretending to be from Medicare. In one report, the target received “an automated message from Medicare and how they could help me. When I followed the prompts, it led me to a nice-sounding male who claimed they were working for Medicare.” In another report, the person received calls claiming, “I requested information from them about Medicare on the Medicare website, which I NEVER did.”
No matter how good the deal sounds and how convincing the caller seems, don’t do it! The call is a scam, and sharing personal information will expose you to identity theft.
Tips to avoid open enrollment scams
Selecting a health insurance plan can be challenging and complex. Be on the lookout for common red flags.
- Be wary of anyone who contacts you out of the blue. Healthcare.gov and Medicare provide legitimate help determining which plan is right for you. These people — sometimes called Navigators or Assisters — cannot charge for their support. If someone asks you for payment, it’s a scam. You will also need to contact them. They will not call you first.
- Be wary of free gifts and “health screenings.” Keep a healthy level of skepticism any time a broker offers you free gifts or other special deals. Never sign up with a broker who offers you an expensive sign-up gift in exchange for providing your Medicare ID number or additional personally identifiable information. Other times, brokers offer free “health screenings” to weed out people who are less healthy. This technique is called “cherry picking” and is against Medicare rules.
- Guard your government-issued numbers. Never offer your Medicare ID number, Social Security number, health plan info, or banking information to anyone you don’t know.
- Go directly to official websites. If you want to make changes to your health care plan, go directly to Medicare.gov, Healthcare.gov, or your employer’s health insurance provider. Don’t click on links in suspicious messages.
- Contact your employer directly. If you receive an unexpected email about benefits policies, ask your employer about it before you click on anything to make sure it’s legitimate.
For more information:
If you are unsure whether a call or offer is from Medicare or you gave your personal information to someone claiming to be with Medicare, call 1-800-MEDICARE to report it. If you suspect fraud when signing up for ACA coverage, go to HealthCare.gov or call the Health Insurance Marketplace call center at 800-318-2596.
View the online version
For more information or further inquiries, contact the Wisconsin BBB at www.bbb.org/wisconsin, 414-847-6000 or 1-800-273-1002. Consumers also can find more information about how to protect themselves from scams by following the Wisconsin BBB on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
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NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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How the scam works, it’s called Medicare Advantage. Helpful hint, it’s not Medicare but private insurance draining Medicare much like the voucher system for public schools.
I would like to see statistics on how many Medicare clients successfully (in terms of customer satisfaction) manage to change plans during open enrollment in Milwaukee County.
This year the field of insurers and providers to read “compare” and “choose” from here includes thirty-five (35) plans listed in dense spreadsheets in addition to the plan options in the rest of the state and some border areas.
I would maintain that any more than 5-7 “choices” = no choice at all.
Reading through “Medicare & You 2024” one is confronted with something as impenetrable as our gerrymandered maps of
election districts.