Alleviating Confusion and Preventing Fraud: FRAUD
Unfortunately, Medicare beneficiaries and the PDPs that serve them are not the only ones who might be benefiting from the $740 billion expansion of the Medicare program. Medicare fraud involves cheating either the federal government or the beneficiaries. Perhaps the worst form of fraud affects these frail elders, who can hardly afford to be cheated. This dishonesty is appearing in the form of identity theft, selling products that people do not need, or changing the product after people have selected the plan. The manner in which the CMS chose to implement the Medicare Part D program is partly to blame for the relative ease with which the unscrupulous can cheat senior citizens.
Identity Theft
By far, the largest number of complaints to the federal government has involved seniors who have become victims of identity theft, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Historically, telemarketing scams have been a major problem, resulting in a cost of more than $40 billion per year; these scams most often affect those over the age of 65. The incidence of identity theft may become even more prevalent as a result of the CMS’s desire to make marketing of the Medicare PDP program by health plans as open as possible. To that end, the CMS is allowing telemarketers to contact Medicare beneficiaries at home from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. canadian pharmacy generic viagra
This approach may only serve to confuse people and is likely to lead to the unintended consequence of opening the door for new telemarketing scams involving identity theft. The beneficiaries may be encouraged to reveal personal information over the phone, and they will undoubtedly have difficulty distinguishing authentic telemarketers from scammers.
Beneficiaries can eliminate these calls if they add their phone number to the FTC’s “Do Not Call” registry (888-3821222); Although telemarketing “cold calls” are permitted, CMS marketing guidelines prohibit Medicare Advantage plans, PDPs, or their representatives from making door-to-door sales calls or sending unsolicited mail. Therefore, beneficiaries should be instructed that most, if not all, of the mail they receive regarding the Medicare PDP coverage is probably of some value. antibiotics online pharmacy
Identity theft is especially easy with Medicare recipients because a person’s Medicare number and Social Security number are the same. Instead of providing personal information over the telephone, Medicare beneficiaries should give information only to the CMS or to representatives whose identity they can verify. The CMS has enlisted the help of law enforcement officials to investigate two possible scams in which Medicare beneficiaries were asked for their bank card numbers and other personal information.
