Seniors Warned about Medicare Part D Rebate Scammers

The new healthcare law will close the Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage "donut hole" by 2020. The first step toward this goal is sending $250 checks to eligible seniors to help offset their costs. And, as is the case for so many recipients of good things, scammers are waiting in the wings to cheat seniors out of their checks.

Seniors on Medicare don't have to do anything to receive the $250 rebate checks - they're mailed out as soon as the recipients become eligible - but that isn't stopping scammers from posing as Health and Human Services personnel and calling seniors to request personal information that they say is required in order to process the checks. According to the Indiana Association of Area Agencies on Aging (IAAA), scammers have been asking for information such as a Social Security or Medicare number or a signature.

If seniors receive a call from a scammer, they should take down the caller's name and telephone number (using caller ID, if possible) and report the call to 1-800-MEDICARE.