What an Illegal Medicare Call Sounds Like

Pepper McCarty, Medicare Product Specialist, recently shared a Medicare call recording with us:

Here’s what she said:

“This is typical of the (many) phone calls I receive every day (but I don’t usually get a nice recorded message like this one).

Obviously an illegal outbound call about Medicare Advantage. Your clients are receiving these every day too.

This is how they get switched off of plans.

What is recorded here is just AI…not a real human. If you answer that you do have A and B, you get transferred to someone in a call center.

They ask a few more questions before transferring you to a “licensed agent”. These are the “TPMOs” that Medicare needs to be watching for.

More action is needed to stop these, as I typically get more than 30 calls a day.”

– Pepper McCarty

What Can You do to help?

1) Join NABIP (formerly NAHU)

The National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals represents more than 100,000 licensed health insurance agents, brokers, general agents, consultants, and benefit professionals through more than 200 chapters across America.

NABIP offers its members a multitude of educational opportunities, including advanced designation programs, continuing education classes, and online learning.

They also conduct advocacy efforts at the state and federal levels of government to advance the interests of health insurance professionals and to promote affordable and responsible private health insurance market solutions.

Our leadership team will be traveling to Washington D.C. next week for the Capitol Conference to advocate on your behalf.

2) Educate Your Clients

The FTC has a great article on how to protect yourself from Medicare Scams.

Educate your clients on how they can protect themselves:

• Hang up. If someone calls claiming to be from Medicare, asking for your Social Security number or bank information to get your new card or new benefits, that’s a scam.
• Don’t give personal information to a caller claiming to be from Medicare. You can’t trust caller id. These calls can be spoofed so they look like they’re coming from Medicare even when they’re not. Before you give any personal information, initiate your own call to Medicare at 1-800-MEDICARE.
• Report the call. Report Medicare imposters at 1-800-MEDICARE and ftc.gov/complaint. The more we hear from you, the more we can help fight scams.

3) Continue Fighting the Good Fight

More than ever before, your clients are being targeted with misleading information about their Medicare and Social Security benefits.

They need good people like you to defend them, educate them, and serve them with honesty.

Don’t allow corruption to discourage you from doing the right thing.

In the end, good brokers like you will win.