Age Spots by Ruth Dockins

Medicare Prescription Drug enrollment will be over for most people on  December 7.  That is the last day to enroll or to change your drug plan for next year.  We, at the Southeast Mo. Area Agency on Aging, are willing to assist you in this process just give us a call at 335-3331 or toll free at 1-800-392-8771.

As with every government program there are scam artists to take advantage of the people who may be eligible for the programs.  The same goes for the Medicare Prescription Drug program. 

Law enforcement officials have spotted and stopped many scams but there are always more where those came from.  One television commercial urged people to call a toll-free number to sign up for new government insurance during the “limited enrollment period.”  That scammer must have made a lot of money on a previous scam to be able to afford to advertise on TV.  Other scammers, claiming they were with the government, went door-to-door trying to sell fake insurance.  Remember Medicare does not send sales persons door-to-door nor do they call you on the phone.  A state attorney general reported that telemarketers were seeking personal information so they could send a new Medicare card required by the new law.  Remember Social Security already has all that information if they need it.  Each of these pitches is a fraud.  Scam artist are slick, so it is hard to predict all the ways they will try to twist the law for their own profit.

Be Skeptical

If you receive a visit, call or email from anyone claiming to want to help you sign up for prescription drug programs (other than me of course) remember they may not be who they say they are.  Do not pay anyone to help you enroll, and do not reveal any of your personal information to them, such as your full name, date of birth, or Social Security number.

Report Fraud

Contact your state insurance commission, your state attorney general, local law enforcement or our agency, our phone number is listed above, about any suspicious promotions.