{"id":1554,"date":"2022-11-18T14:33:13","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T19:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/?p=1554"},"modified":"2022-11-18T14:33:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T19:33:13","slug":"medicare-open-enrollment-scammer-or-the-real-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/medicare-open-enrollment-scammer-or-the-real-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>Medicare Open Enrollment Scammer, or the Real Deal?<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By Crystal Baldwin<br \/><br \/>It happened last year, and again this year. During Medicare Open Enrollment season, a concerned elder in my life called to ask if the person soliciting them was a scammer or an actual enrollment representative. The truth is, aside from highlighting some key identifiers of scams, it can be hard to tell. The scammers are so good at acting as if they <em>are <\/em>Medicare enrollment professionals, that it is enormously difficult to differentiate them from the real deal. The scams even spoof Medicare\u2019s phone number, making the caller ID appear to be Medicare when it is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Medicare Open Enrollment Scam Alert\" width=\"584\" height=\"438\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gfwokGl8b1Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>Medicare Open Enrollment Scam Alert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The primary difference between a telemarketer and a scammer is whether the caller is honoring the Federal Do Not Call Registry (DNC)<\/strong>. If you ever put you number on the DNC by calling <a href=\"tel:1-888-382-1222\">1-888-382-1222<\/a> or by going online at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donotcall.gov\/\">donotcall.gov<\/a>, you should not be receiving calls from solicitors\u2014Even during Medicare open enrollment. You likely should <em>not<\/em> be receiving robocalls of this nature either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color\" style=\"color:#427f74\"><strong>What provider can call you when you are on the DNC?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Businesses with whom you have a customer relationship within the past six months, such as your Medicare provider, and other you have requested to call you. Yes, that&#8217;s it. No other unrequested calls are allowed.<br \/><br \/><strong>More on <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wretched-robocalls\/\"><strong>Robocalls<\/strong><\/a><strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same goes for those annoying automated\/computer\/robot calls. Except with these, unless you expressly opted into receiving robocalls in writing, you should not be receiving these calls either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color\" style=\"color:#427f74\"><strong>What if the call IS my Medicare provider, or I am interested in changing plans during open enrollment?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is where it gets tricky. It is difficult to know whether your provider is calling instead of a scammer, especially because <strong>scammers copycat caller ID numbers<\/strong>. The only way to be sure is to <strong>take steps to verify <\/strong>by hanging up on the caller and calling back a number you know to be valid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#f5fae8\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-color\" style=\"color:#427f74\">If you are looking to <strong>change enrollment<\/strong> during the Medicare open enrollment period, <strong>do so on your terms<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-text-color wp-block-list\" style=\"color:#427f74\"><li>Connect with the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/asd.vermont.gov\/services\/ship\">State Health Insurance Program (SHIP)<\/a> <\/strong>at <a href=\"tel:1-800-642-5119\">1-800-642-5119<\/a> to get help navigating Medicare enrollment and to understand the complexities of Medicare plans.<\/li><li>Seek out options using the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.medicare.gov\/plan-compare\/?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=paid_search&amp;utm_campaign=pn-cmsoe2022-gm&amp;utm_term=trafficdriving&amp;utm_content=pn-10152022_medicare-enrollment_rsa6&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiA1NebBhDDARIsAANiDD0dnahTBmI3RXbeRAaliFkuTIOtC_yRcVSWKEDWk8P1zeXB-TDUrw0aAiVaEALw_wcB#\/?year=2023&amp;lang=en\">Medicare.gov<\/a> <\/strong>website.<\/li><\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are concerned about your Medicare plan or need to report known Medicare provider fraud\/abuse, <strong>contact Medicare <\/strong>directly at <a href=\"tel:1-800-633-4227\">1-800-MEDICARE<\/a> (<a href=\"tel:1-800-633-4227\">1-800-633-4227<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please help the Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) stop Medicare scams by sharing this information with someone you know. If you have questions about this scam, or have provided personal information to the scammers, please contact CAP at <a href=\"tel:1-800-649-2424\">1-800-649-2424<\/a> or go online to <a href=\"https:\/\/ago.vermont.gov\/cap\/scam-recovery\/\">ago.vermont.gov\/cap<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br \/>Resources:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/consumer.ftc.gov\/articles\/national-do-not-call-registry-faqs#adding%20your%20number\">Federal Trade Commission Do Not Call Registry<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.medicare.gov\/sign-up-change-plans\/joining-a-health-or-drug-plan\">Medicare<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During Medicare Open Enrollment, scammers may contact you about updating or switching coverage. Always take steps to verify unknown callers. If you are looking to update your plan, do so on your terms. First, get help navigating Medicare plans by connecting with Vermont programs and Medicare directly.<br \/>\nCall the Consumer Assistance Program at 1-800-649-2424 to report scams.<br \/>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/medicare-open-enrollment-scammer-or-the-real-deal\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4480,"featured_media":1563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[704901,639468,639477,704908,481474,704907,505456,505183,704899,704900,704902,602298,482450,704866,639489,505523,704909,704911,704903,704904,704905,704906,704910],"class_list":["post-1554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-medicarescam","tag-stopscams-2","tag-takestepstoverify","tag-a-solicitor-or-a-scammer","tag-consumer","tag-do-not-call-registry","tag-elder-protection-initiative","tag-health-insurance","tag-medicare-open-enrollment","tag-medicare-scam","tag-open-enrollment","tag-robocalls","tag-scams","tag-slow-down-and-follow-a-plan-to-not-get-scammed","tag-slow-method","tag-solicitor","tag-state-health-insurance-program","tag-stop-scams-with-slow","tag-telemarketer","tag-unauthorized-call","tag-unsolicited-phone-call","tag-unwanted-call","tag-vt-cap-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4480"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1554"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1564,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554\/revisions\/1564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}