Every year from October 15-December 7, Medicare recipients can make changes to their plans or sign up for new plans to better meet their needs. Choosing the best Medicare plan for you can be confusing, but luckily there are programs that help you navigate the process.
Community Programs
- Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program (MMAP) via Area Agency on Aging 1-B
- Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program (MMAP) via CSSW
- Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program (MMAP) via JFS
- Michigan Medicare Assistance Program
Preventing Common Medicare Enrollment Scams
- Be wary of people who call to sign you up for Medicare plans and ask for your financial or other personal information.
- Be wary of people who go door to door and want to sign you up for a Medicare plan.
- Beware of callers telling you your Medicare card is expired, needs replacement, or needs to be replaced with a card that has a chip. A similar scam asks seniors to share their Medicare card number so the scammer can “update” the card.
- Remember: Medicare/Medicaid will not call you for your personal information, including your Medicare number.
- Unfortunately, you can’t always trust caller ID since many scammers use spoofing to hide their real phone numbers.
- If you’re feeling pressured to make a decision, it’s probably a scam.
- Don’t sign up for Medicare programs (or other health programs) over the phone.
- If the caller says their plan is preferred by Medicare, it’s a lie (and likely a scam).
- If someone threatens to take away your coverage unless you give them information, hang up.
- If someone tries to offer you a gift for signing up for a plan, it’s a scam.
- It’s ok to ignore a phone call if you don’t recognize a number and/or hang up if you don’t recognize the caller.
- Not sure if the caller is really from Medicare? Hang up and call 1-800-MEDICARE.
- Remember: The enrollment period runs until December 7th so you have plenty of time left to make a decision. Don’t let scammers tell you otherwise or rush you!