The Better Business Bureau is warning people about scams involving open enrollment for Medicare and Healthcare.gov.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The scam involves\u00a0unsolicited calls or messages claiming to “help” you find the best deal.<\/p>\n
Open enrollment for Medicare\u00a0runs through Dec. 7.\u00a0Medicare Advantage open enrollment\u00a0is from Jan. 1 to March 31 or within three months of getting Medicare.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heathcare.gov open enrollment runs through Dec. 15 for coverage starting Jan. 1. Jan. 15 is the last day to enroll for coverage starting Feb. 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tips to avoid open enrollment scams<\/p>\n
BBB says to be on the lookout for common red flags.<\/p>\n
Be wary of anyone who contacts you out of the blue.\u00a0Healthcare.gov\u00a0and Medicare provide\u00a0legitimate help for determining which plan\u00a0is right for you. These people \u2014 sometimes called Navigators or Assisters \u2014 cannot charge for their support. If someone asks you for payment, it’s a scam. You will also need to contact them on your own. They will not call you first.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Be wary of free gifts and “health screenings.”\u00a0Keep a healthy level of skepticism any time a broker offers you\u00a0free gifts\u00a0or other special deals. Never sign up with a broker who offers you an expensive sign-up gift in exchange for providing your Medicare ID number or additional personally identifiable information. Other times,\u00a0brokers offer free “health screenings” to weed out people who are less healthy. This technique is called “cherry picking” and is against Medicare rules.<\/p>\n
Guard your government-issued numbers. Never offer your Medicare ID number, Social Security number, health plan info, or banking information to anyone you don’t know.<\/p>\n
Go directly to official websites.\u00a0If you want to make changes to your healthcare plan, go directly to\u00a0Medicare.gov,\u00a0Healthcare.gov, or your employer’s health insurance provider. Don’t click on links in suspicious messages.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Contact your employer directly.\u00a0If you receive an unexpected email about benefits policies, ask your employer about it before you click on anything to make sure it’s legitimate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What to do if you get a call<\/p>\n
If you are unsure whether a call or offer is from Medicare or you gave your personal information to someone claiming to be with Medicare, call\u00a01-800-MEDICARE\u00a0to report it. If you suspect fraud when signing up for ACA coverage, go to\u00a0HealthCare.gov\u00a0or call the Health Insurance Marketplace call center at\u00a0800-318-2596.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Better Business Bureau is warning people about scams involving open enrollment for Medicare and Healthcare.gov.\u00a0 The scam…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[78315,149682,5457,97,252,253,1342],"class_list":{"0":"post-283248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-5-on-your-side","9":"tag-better-business-bureau","10":"tag-consumer","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-health-care","13":"tag-healthcare","14":"tag-medicare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}