Scam Artists Focus on Medicare Drug Plan Consumer Alert Box

News from Bangor Daily News
July 30, 2005

BANGOR - Signup for the new Medicare prescription drug plan, set to start in January, will not even be available until this fall, but thieves already are trying to scam people out of their personal information and their life savings, officials said Friday.

To protect Maine seniors, dozens of area police officers, AARP members, area organizations, and community and senior volunteers gathered Friday in Bangor to learn how to educate Medicare participants so they can protect themselves from being taken for a ride.

"This is the biggest change in Medicare in years, and it's really fertile ground for scam artists to work," Andres Castillo, senior project manager for AARP National's Consumer Protection Team, based in Washington, D.C., said Friday to the group. "We've already heard reports of scams. This is happening right now."

A Portland training session with southern Maine law enforcement, area agencies and volunteers was held Thursday.

In Bangor, a Medicare drug scam was reported two weeks ago, Stacie Sparkman, Medicare prescription drug specialist for the Eastern Agency on Aging, told the group.

"It's already started here," she said.

The scammers offered to provide prescription drugs for one year for $299 and a checking account number, as Sparkman described the scam. The $299 is a common amount that scammers ask for.

Oftentimes it's easy for scam artists to take advantage of seniors, Sparkman said, who demonstrated her point by using her trusting grandmother as an example.

"She'd write them a check, feed them and then drive them to the bank," she said. "Later, she'd say, 'He was such a nice young man.'"

The new drug plan, called Medicare Part D, goes into effect Jan. 1, 2006, and "is a program that provides prescription drug coverage for anyone with Medicare," Gloria Rhodes, consumer information specialist for the Central Maine Area on Aging, said.

"Basically, how the plan will work is Medicare recipients will choose the best plan for themselves that meets their needs," she said. "At this point, we don't know what the plans will look like in Maine, but enrollment will be done through [private] insurance companies selling plans."

Telemarketing for program enrollment to older Mainers begins Oct. 15, so officials are trying to get the word out now about how people can protect their private information.

"You can't sign up yet," Jennifer Leach, senior project manager for Consumer Protection, said. "Signups don't start until Nov. 15.

"If somebody asks you or tells you to sign up for something now - it's a scam."

Never give out account numbers to telemarketers or others who call, and if there is a question, just hang up and call the Social Security Administration directly, Leach suggested.

Signing up for the new drug benefit is free, and people don't have to sign up at all, she said, adding, "If someone tries to tell you otherwise, they're wrong."

Free help, through local agencies on aging and other social service agencies, is available, Fran Lee, field representative for the Bangor Social Security Administration office, said.

Medicare drug costs will run participants $37 a month, but there are several monetary tiers to the new program that kick in once certain amounts are expended. Program enrollment will take place between Nov. 15 and May 15. After that, a 1 percent penalty for each month that passes will be added to the monthly bill, Rhodes said.

Gerald Robinson, a member of the AARP board of directors and several other local boards, said, "These insurance companies are going to have a heyday," which will cause even more confusion on the part of seniors, who could get numerous calls from several different insurance companies.

"It's trying to assimilate too much information all at once," he said. "You really have to sit down with your current plan and the proposed plans and compare them to see what's best."

The fact that private insurance companies are going to be selling insurance plans to Medicare participants worries officials, who believe scam artists will try to take advantage of the 40 million people countrywide who qualify for the drug benefit.

Charlie Sias, chairman of the Penobscot County Area TRIAD, an organization comprising law enforcement, Eastern Agency on Aging and other social service agencies, said one local utility is assisting in getting the word out about possible scams associated with the new Medicare drug benefit.

"Bangor Hydro has agreed to let us put in an insert in October," he said. "That will go out to 140,000 people."

Sgt. Chris Martin of the Brewer Police Department said the department gets several calls monthly that deal with fraud, and, for the most part, the department's hands are tied and there is little that can be done.

"Fraud is an issue every day," he said. "Many times it feels, particularly with telemarketers, like you're chasing a ghost."

The police often can only refer complainants to area referral agencies, which is frustrating, Martin said.

"I think prevention will be the key" to stopping fraud associated with the new drug plan, he said. "If you can get the word out, it will save much of the frustration."

In Maine, seniors can call (877) ELDERS-1 (877-353-3771) to report any type of fraud.

Consumer alert box

The new Medicare prescription drug program starts in January 2006 and telemarketing for the new program starts Oct. 15.

To prevent fraud and scams, officials are sharing the following information and suggestions:

Publication date: 2005-07-30
© 2005, YellowBrix, Inc.

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