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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) warns seniors and people with disabilities to be aware of a scheme that asks Medicare beneficiaries for money and checking account information to help them enroll in a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.

This scheme is called the “$299 Ring” for the typical amount of money Medicare beneficiaries are talked into withdrawing from their checking accounts to pay for a non-existent prescription drug plan. Consumers can report these cases to their local law enforcement agencies or
1-877-7SAFERX (1-877-772-3379).

Medicare has received complaints from Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts New Jersey and Georgia. Complaints have been made against a number of different companies, but authorities believe that the companies are the same and are typically based outside the U. S. As soon as CMS receives these complaints, they are investigated and referred to federal law enforcement authorities.

No Medicare drug plan can ask a person with Medicare for bank account or other personal information over the telephone. No beneficiary should ever provide that kind of information to a caller. They should contact their local police department if they believe someone is trying to take money or information from them illegally.

People with Medicare should also remember that they should be on the lookout for anyone trying to take advantage of them and take steps to protect themselves by remembering:

No one can come into your home uninvited.
No one can ask you for personal information during their marketing activities.
Always keep all personal information, such as your Medicare number, safe, just as you would a credit card or a bank account number.
Whenever you have a question or concern about any activity regarding Medicare, call 1-800-MEDICARE.

In addition, legitimate Medicare drug plans will not ask for payment over the telephone or the Internet. They must bill the beneficiary for the monthly premium. Typically, that amount is set up as an automatic withdrawal from the beneficiary’s monthly Social Security check. Beneficiaries may also opt to pay the monthly premiums in other ways such as writing a check or setting up automatic payments from their checking accounts.

SSA Follow up Phone Calls Pose Opportunity for Attempted Identity Theft

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has mailed the Application for Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Costs (Form SSA-1020) to almost 19 million potentially eligible individuals.

You should be aware that as part of its effort to reach all people who qualify for the extra help, SSA has contracted with a company, NCS Pearson and West, to conduct follow-up telephone calls to beneficiaries who have not responded to the initial mailing of the application. When these calls are made, the callers will clearly identify themselves as employees of NCS Pearson and the West Corporation calling on behalf of the Social Security Administration.

However, this presents an opportunity for unscrupulous individuals to solicit personal information, which can lead to identity theft.

The NCS Pearson and West caller will not ask for any personal information such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth, income or resource information. The callers will not enroll them in a specific plan. The caller will follow a closely monitored script designed to remind individuals about the importance of completing and mailing the application back to SSA. The calls will be made from Monday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. according to the local time zone for the beneficiary’s area code

If beneficiaries need another application, have specific questions about the application or need assistance completing it, the caller will arrange for SSA to provide any needed follow-up.
If there are follow-up calls from SSA, beneficiaries should verify the SSA calls are legitimate prior to providing personal information by doing the following:

Ask the caller for their name and telephone number to call them back.
Hang up and call Social Security immediately at 1-800-772-1213
(TTY 1-800-325-0778) to confirm that the call is legitimate.

For more information go to:
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/prescriptionhelp/vendorfollowup/factsheet.htm

Durable Medical Equipment Supplier
A representative from a mid-west durable medical equipment (DME) supplier is reportedly calling Medicare beneficiaries and asking them if they need a wheelchair, or know of anyone who does. If the person responds with a "maybe" or "yes", then the supplier sends a person to the home. This individual obtains the Medicare beneficiary's Medicare health insurance number and sends this information to the beneficiary's physician, seeking authorization for the DME item.

Medicare requires that all services covered and paid by the Medicare program be medically reasonable and necessary to the diagnosis or treatment of the beneficiary's illness or injury. It is therefore recommended that when a person on Medicare has a medical need, including a need for medical equipment, they contact their doctor or health care professional directly. It is also important to protect themselves by not sharing their personal information, especially their Medicare health insurance claim number and their Social Security number, with people they do not know or with a person who has randomly called them.

Phone Calls Soliciting Bank Account Numbers From People With Medicare
Two people with Medicare, one in the mid-west and the other on the west coast, have reported receiving phone calls from a person claiming to represent Medicare. With both calls, the person stated they wanted to deposit money into the Medicare beneficiary's bank account and asked for the bank account number. One caller was also asked for his social security number and was told that if he didn't provide the information, he would lose his Medicare. At least one of these calls reportedly originated outside of the United States.

An effective way for people with Medicare to protect themselves and their benefits is to not share their personal and financial information with people they do not know, especially to someone on the phone who randomly calls them. In these situations you have the right to ask the caller for their name, title, company they represent, and their phone number. Then, contacting the Beneficiary Customer Service Department at your Medicare Carrier or Intermediary can help to assist you in clarifying the validity of the call.

Medicare Providers Sharing Insurance Numbers of People with Medicare
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently notified its Medicare contractors of a potential fraud scheme involving health care providers sharing insurance numbers of Medicare beneficiaries. The notification states, "Capping is the practice of exchanging monetary and/or tangible goods, including offering and/or obtaining kickbacks for services rendered. A large number of providers have been identified as billing diagnostic procedures for the same beneficiary population, although it is alleged that these services are not being provided to these beneficiaries. Specialties most commonly found participating in this scheme are Internal Medicine, General Practice, Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF), Laboratory, and Family Practice."

Again, this is an example of why it is important for people on Medicare not to share their Medicare number, except when requested by a health professional to receive a Medicare covered service. It is illegal for a provider to offer any form of monetary reward to render medical treatment. Medicare has a reward program in place for reporting fraud. Information on this program can be obtained from Medicare's web site at www.medicare.gov.