On Your Side: Know about this Medicare scam

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - Medicare open enrollment is going on right now. Scammers know that and are already making calls to trick you. Don’t be fooled.

A volunteer who helps seniors enroll for Medicare told us about this one. A gentleman she assisted said he got a call from Medicare. That’s the first red flag. Medicare will not call you. He says he was told if he got his medicines at a pharmacy next year, he’d have to pay the deductible price, and it would be really high. He was told to get his meds by mail order.

“They knew nothing about his plan because he has an advantage plan, and there is no deductible. For this man, he had four or five medicines. All of them cost zero dollars on his plan. So he would never hit a deductible,” said Carolyn Farrar with Medicare Guidance Ministry.

There’s that, and Medicare will not call you. It will contact you by mail.

“The only time they would ever call you is if you initiated a call to them and they were returning your call,” she said.

What did the scammer want? Credit card information.

“And possibly their Medicare number because you have to use a credit card if you use mail order,” said Farrar.

“All they need is a little piece of the truth to go after people,” she said.

You can report Medicare fraud to the Senior Medicare Patrol.

If you’re happy with your plan, review it because plans change. You might be able to find a cheaper plan. The deadline to enroll is December 7.

A heads up: experts tell me the website usually starts crashing a few days before the deadline. It’s just another reason not to wait until the last minute.

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