Why do the calls pick up when enrollment opens?
The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7. Because this is when plans can be changed, everyone gets in touch at once - including companies whose business is collecting and selling the phone numbers of people old enough for Medicare.
Television ads, mail, calls from numbers you do not recognize, calls in Korean, messages on KakaoTalk. Some of it is legitimate, some of it breaks the marketing rules, and some of it is outright fraud.
Sorting them out is simpler than it sounds. Who made contact first, and what are they asking for? Those two questions settle most of it.
One thing worth knowing: if you leave your number with an ad, that number often gets passed around, and the calls continue for a while.
- Annual Enrollment runs October 15 through December 7
- Medicare calls and advertising peak during these weeks
- Who contacted whom first, and what they want, tells you most of it
- Leaving your number with an ad usually brings more calls, not fewer
Why is an unsolicited sales call a problem in itself?
Someone selling Medicare plans cannot contact you unless you asked them to. Not by phone, not by text, not by email, not by knocking on your door. This is federal rule, not etiquette.
Approaching you in a parking lot, an apartment hallway or a lobby to start a conversation about plans is off-limits for the same reason.
So a Medicare sales call from a number you do not know means that, fraud or not, you are already dealing with someone not following the rules. I do not call people who have not contacted me. I am not allowed to.
There are exceptions. An agent you already work with, or the plan you are already enrolled in, can reach out. So can someone whose form you filled out. If you have left your number somewhere, calls may follow - judge those by what the caller is asking for.
- Unrequested calls, texts, emails and visits are against the rules
- So is approaching you in a parking lot, hallway or lobby
- An agent you already work with, or your current plan, is different
- That they contacted you first is the first signal
Does Medicare itself ever call you?
Medicare does not call you out of the blue to ask for your Medicare number or your bank account. Nobody from Medicare asks for money to send a new card. The card is free.
Medicare does not send staff to your home either.
So if a caller says they are from Medicare and asks you to read out your number, you can end the call right there. It is not rude. If you want to check on something, hang up and call 1-800-MEDICARE yourself.
- Medicare does not call first to ask for your Medicare number
- Any call asking for payment for a new card is a scam
- Nobody from Medicare visits your home
- Hang up and call 1-800-MEDICARE directly to verify
Why is the Medicare number worth guarding so carefully?
Treat your Medicare number the way you treat your Social Security number. Once it is out, care and equipment you never received can be billed in your name.
Be especially careful when free genetic test kits, free braces or gifts come up before the number does. Offering a gift or money to encourage you to enroll is itself against the rules.
There are only a few places that number belongs: your doctors and hospitals, your pharmacy, and the plan or agent you chose yourself. A call that came to you is not one of them.
- Treat the Medicare number like a Social Security number
- Be wary of calls that lead with free test kits or equipment
- Gifts or money offered to encourage enrollment break the rules
- It belongs with your doctors, your pharmacy, and the plan or agent you chose
What does a legitimate appointment look like?
It starts after you reached out or asked for help. Never the other way around.
Before the meeting, what kinds of plans will be discussed is agreed and recorded. This is called a Scope of Appointment. If you sat down to talk about Medicare, the conversation should not turn into life insurance or annuities that same day.
An agent is required to tell you that they do not offer every plan in your area. I say it at every appointment. An agent who never says it is telling you something.
And nobody pressures you to decide that day. You have until December 7. If someone says it has to be today, that is the signal.
- It begins after you asked for it
- What will be discussed is agreed in advance and recorded
- You should hear that the agent does not offer every plan in your area
- No pressure to decide the same day
Can you trust a call that comes in Korean?
Hearing Korean is not a reason to relax. Sales calls and scam calls aimed at Korean seniors come in Korean too, and the same goes for introductions passed along through a church, a senior center or a group chat.
What tells you whether someone is legitimate is not the language but the license. Ask for the California insurance license number, then look it up yourself on the California Department of Insurance website. Asking which carriers they are appointed with is also fair.
Even when the person who referred them meant well, verify the license separately. Mine is printed at the bottom of this article. You are welcome to look it up.
- A call in Korean is not automatically a safe call
- Ask for the California insurance license number
- Look the number up on the Department of Insurance website
- Ask which carriers the agent is appointed with
What if you already gave out your information?
Do not panic. Work through it in order. Report it to 1-800-MEDICARE first; you can ask for a Korean interpreter.
Then check whether care or equipment you never received has been billed. You can see this in your Medicare.gov account or on the statements that come in the mail.
If you find yourself in a plan you never agreed to, there is a process to look into it and put it right. Rather than making calls all over on your own, tell me and we will sort out who to contact and in what order.
California also has a free counseling program called HICAP. It is independent of any insurer or agent, which makes it a good place to get a second opinion.
- Report it to 1-800-MEDICARE; a Korean interpreter is available
- Check your statements for care you never received
- If a plan was changed without your consent, there is a process to fix it
- HICAP offers free, independent counseling in California
Three things to remember when the phone rings this fall
Do not give your Medicare number to a call that came to you. If the conversation opens with something free, end it. If they say it has to be decided today, that is the signal. Those three filter out almost everything.
You have until December 7. Hanging up and calling back on a number you know costs you nothing. If a call has to happen right now, that urgency belongs to the caller, not to you.
If a call leaves you unsure, ask me. Even if you are not my client, I am glad to tell you whether a call sounds legitimate. Adult children are welcome to call for a parent. Consultations are free, and you can always check directly with Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE.
- Never give your Medicare number to an incoming call
- If it opens with something free, end the call
- Pressure to decide today is the signal
- Hang up and call back on a number you know - you have until December 7
