Protecting Your Privacy and Fighting Medicare Fraud
Updated October 18, 2019
You already know about rampant identity theft - and you may also know that many of the criminals are doing this through stolen Medicare cards.
The good news is that they finally removed social security numbers from the Medicare ID cards.
What You Should Know
Medicare Insurance Broker, Marilyn Jones
License #0646553, 619-297-5888 x 304
Seniors should be hyper aware of scammers during this period (and always). If anyone calls you and claims to be from Medicare, asks for your social security number, or claims there's a charge for anything, put your detective's hat on. 🕵🏻
Ask for their information and tell them you'll call them back.
You can always visit Medicare.gov, call 800-MEDICARE, or reach out to your local social security office with any questions.
It's safe to give your Medicare number to your doctor's offices and the like - or a licensed health insurance agent enrolling you in a Medicare plan.
An added step you can take is to review your Medicare Summary Notice and make sure you are only being charged for services you actually received.
Medicare.gov offers loads of wonderful resources on how to better protect yourself:
Open Enrollment - Now Is Your Chance To Enroll or Make Changes
As a reminder, Medicare Open Enrollment ends on December 7th - now is the time when you can sign up for - or change to - a Medicare Supplement or Medicare Advantage plan.
A Final Note
We have a related blog post here on protecting your identity and your small business. It includes a downloadable PDF for building up your credit.