Spam calls during open enrolment: protect your plan
From mid-October the phone does not stop. Here is what a legitimate agency may and may not do, and what to say to everyone else.
By Ana Beatriz Salgado, Cedar Landing Benefits
Every autumn our clients report the same thing: the phone rings constantly from mid-October, and the callers are confident, friendly and in a hurry. Some are legitimate. Many are not.
The rules are clearer than most people realise, which makes the bad calls easy to identify.
What a legitimate agency may not do
It may not call you out of the blue about Medicare if you have not asked it to. It may not tell you that your benefits will lapse unless you act today. It may not claim to be calling from Medicare or a government office. And it may not ask for your Medicare number to 'verify' an offer you did not request.
Cedar Landing does not cold call, full stop. If your phone rings out of nowhere and our name is on it, it is not us.
What to do instead
Hang up, then call the number printed on your plan card or your agent's own number. That single habit defeats almost every version of this fraud, because it moves the conversation onto a channel the caller does not control.
Never read a Medicare number, a Social Security number or a bank detail to an inbound caller. A real advisor who needs it will be happy to wait while you call back.
An estimate for planning, not a quote. Medicare and the Marketplace set your real figures.
Have a question this raised?
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