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Tips for Avoiding Fraud
Older adults and people with disabilities are often vulnerable to fraud.
Share these tips with your clients to help protect them from fraud.
Keep all personal information, such as your Medicare number, safe.
- Protect your Medicare number as you would your credit card information.
- Don’t give out your personal information until you are sure that
a person is working with Medicare and their product is approved by Medicare.
| Click
here to view the Official Medicare Seal and
more quick facts about Medicare prescription drug coverage and
protecting your personal information. |
Know the rules about when someone can ask for your personal
information.
- Medicare Prescription Drug Plans will have a “Medicare-Approved”
seal on their materials.
- People who are really working with Medicare:
- Can’t come to your home uninvited to sell or endorse any
Medicare-related product, but they can call you about their plan.
- Can’t enroll you into a drug plan over the telephone unless
you call them, or unless you are adding prescription drug coverage
to a Medicare Advantage Plan or other Medicare Health Plan you already
have. Note: State Health Insurance Assistance Programs and other local
organizations may help you enroll over the telephone.
- Can’t ask for payment over the telephone or Web. The
plan must send you a bill if you enroll over the telephone or
Web.
The government has established extensive rules and guidelines for marketing
drug plans to Medicare beneficiaries, among which is "prescription
drug plans shall not conduct door-to-door solicitation or marketing
prior to receiving an invitation." Cash inducements, or gifts worth
more than $15 for signing with a certain plan, are also strictly prohibited.
In addition, insurance companies cannot directly compare their plans with
others by name; and while the companies are allowed to say that their
drug plans are approved by Medicare, they cannot say the plans are endorsed
or recommended by Medicare. Marketing practices that violate any of
these rules should be reported to the appropriate authorities.
| REPORT
ABUSE
Medicare beneficiaries are the most important link to finding
and fighting Medicare fraud. There are four easy ways to report
abuse:
By Phone: 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477)
By Fax: 1-800-223-2164 (no more than 10 pages please)
By E-Mail: HHSTips@oig.hhs.gov
By Mail: Office of the Inspector General
HHS TIPS Hotline
P.O. Box 23489
Washington, DC 20026
More information on fighting Medicare fraud can
be found on the official Medicare Web site at http://www.medicare.gov/FraudAbuse/Overview.asp |
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
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