CMS Warns Medicare Beneficiaries About New Prescription Drug Benefit Scam
CMS on Friday warned Medicare beneficiaries of increased reports of a telephone scam in which callers claim to sell prescription drug plans, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. The scam is similar to the "$299 ring," in which callers attempt to obtain bank account, Medicare or Social Security numbers from beneficiaries and claim to sell a prescription drug plan for $299. In the new scam, callers claim to sell a new form of the Medicare prescription drug plan for $379, $365 or $350 (LaMendola, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 6/17). In some cases, callers claim that the drug plans are from fictitious companies with names such as Pharma, National Medical Office, Medicare National Office and National Medicare (CQ HealthBeat, 6/16). CMS has referred almost 250 cases of the scam to law enforcement agencies (Miami Herald, 6/18). CMS spokesperson Peter Ashkenaz said, "The more awareness that we can raise about these kinds of scams, the better the protections are for beneficiaries" (CQ HealthBeat, 6/16). CMS also said that beneficiaries should not provide bank account or Medicare numbers to callers unless they initiated the contact. According to CMS, legitimate Medicare drug plans will not send representatives to the homes of beneficiaries without an invitation or ask for payment over the telephone or Internet. Medicare beneficiaries should ask drug plans to mail bills, CMS said (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 6/17).
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