California Health Insurance News 
Articles / WARNING seniors, - Be alert for Part D scams before Nov. 15th
10/12/2005
A few days ago, a radio announcement warned that scammers and I/D thieves were at work taking advantage of the hazy understanding of Medicare Part D by a gullible public.
Seniors be warned that if someone asks you for all your personal details for Medicare part D before November 15th when official enrollment opens they are possibly trying to con you into giving them data that they are not entitled to.
Marketing guidelines prohibit Advantage Marketing Plans, PDPs or their representatives from making door-to-door sales calls or sending unsolicited emails. If plans use brokers or independent agents, those individuals must adhere to state licensing requirements, and if they are making calls to offer Medicare Plan D information, they must honor the "do-not-call-again" requests.
For seniors who need to know how to protect themselves against fraud, unwanted solicitations or people who are always on the look out for a possible scam opportunity, the following are some useful guide lines: -
i) Do not give out personal information (e.g. Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, etc.) to plan marketing representatives, because plans are not allowed to request such personal information in their marketing activities.
ii) Plans cannot call outside the calling hours allowed by the federal government and states. Federal rules do not allow telemarketers to call before 8:00am or after 9:00pm. State rules may vary.
iii) To stop repeated and unwanted sales calls, beneficiaries simply need to say, "stop." Plans are required to honor "Do not call again requests" from beneficiaries. To register for the federal "do not call" list to prevent all unsolicited marketing calls, go to www.donotcall.gov
iv) For additional information about drug plan options from an independent source, beneficiaries can go to www.medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE.
"It really gets me riled up," said David Thau, CEO and founder of 'Keep it Simple Insurance', "when I see seniors being targeted by unscrupulous people that are trying to take advantage of a situation where a benefit could turn into a disaster because of lack of knowledge for some senior citizen. By November 15th, when official enrollment for Medicare Part D starts, I hope seniors will have sufficient data to be able to choose trustworthy vendors wisely."
