Ohio Department of Insurance director Judith L. French is cautioning the more than 2.5 million Ohioans to be on alert for scams attempting to steal their personal information during the current Medicare open enrollment period, which runs through Dec. 7.
Consumers should watch for fake Medicare communications seeking personal information or money in exchange for any of the following:
to help with enrollment
to schedule health services
to sign up for a Part D prescription plan or Medicare health coverage, and/ or
to provide a new Medicare card.
How to Protect Yourself
Never give personal information, including Medicare, Social Security, bank account, and credit card numbers, to anyone who contacts you unsolicited by telephone, email, text, or in person, such as door-to-door sales.
Medicare will never call you to sell you anything, visit your home, or enroll you over the phone unless you called first. Also, scammers spoof phone numbers to look like a phone call is from a trusted source
Medicare or Medicare health plans will only call and request personal information if you’re a plan member or you called and left a message.
Only give certain personal information to your doctors, insurance companies acting on your behalf, or trusted people in the community officially working with Medicare, such as from the Ohio Department of Insurance’s Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program (OSHIIP).