Tips to Avoid Medicare Rx Drug Plan Scams

• Check the list of Medicare-approved prescription drug plans. The list of approved plans and other information about the program are available at www.medicare.gov and by calling toll-free, 1-800-633-4227 (TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048.) Medicare prescription drug plans, which will be offered by private companies and organizations, must meet specific federal standards and be approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
• If someone says you must join or you’ll lose your other Medicare benefits, it’s a scam. The Medicare prescription drug benefit is voluntary. It supplements your other Medicare benefits.
• If someone asks for payment before November 15, 2005, it’s a scam. The plans are allowed to begin advertising on October 1, 2005, but they’re not allowed to begin enrolling people and asking for payments until November 15, 2005, which is the beginning of the six-month open enrollment period.
• Guard your personal information from identity thieves posing as sales people. Legitimate plans may ask for your Social Security number, but only when you are actually enrolling. And they may only ask for your credit card or bank account information if you are arranging to make automatic payments for your drug coverage from that account.
• If someone claims to be calling from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and asks for your bank account, credit card, or life insurance policy numbers, it’s a scam. SSA will never ask for that information, and the only time someone calling from the SSA will ask for your Social Security number is if you applied for low-income assistance and the number you put on your application wasn’t correct.
• Know the law on how Medicare prescription drug plans can be marketed. It’s illegal for companies or organizations marketing Medicare drug plans to come to your door uninvited or to send you unsolicited emails. Companies and organizations can call to promote their drug plans, but it’s illegal for them to sign people up during those calls. They must also obey telemarketing laws: it’s illegal to call before 8 am or after 9 pm; call people whose telephone numbers are on a state or the federal "do not call" registry (with some exceptions); or call people who have asked not to be called again. For more information about your telemarketing rights and to put your phone number on the federal "do not call" registry, go to www.donotcall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222.
• Medicare prescription drug plans should come with no strings attached. Companies and organizations can offer modest prizes or gifts (but not cash) to promote their Medicare prescription drug plans – for instance, to people who attend a sales presentation – but it’s illegal to require anyone to join a drug plan in order to get a prize or gift.
• Don’t be fooled by sales materials that look like they’re from the government. Con artists often try to impress consumers with official-looking sales materials that look like they’re from a government agency. Since it is private companies who are offering the plans, be skeptical about promotional materials claiming to come from the government.
• Don’t confuse other types of drug coverage with Medicare prescription drug plans. Only plans approved by Medicare can be marketed as Medicare prescription drug plans. Approved plans will have a seal on their materials with "Medicare Rx" in large letters and "Prescription Drug Coverage" in smaller letters under that. Check with Medicare to make sure that the plan you’re considering is approved.
• Report suspected Medicare drug plan scams. Call the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services, 1-800-447-8477, TTY 1-800-337-4950 (information about the Medicare drug plans is not available at these numbers). You can also report Medicare-related fraud by sending an email to HHSTips@oig.hhs.gov or writing to Inspector General, HHS, Attention: Hotline, 330 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201.