Alert Patients to New Medicare Part D Scam

Family physicians should warn their Medicare patients about the latest Medicare Part D scam. Called the "$299 Ring," the scam involves a con artist who calls Medicare patients and asks them to provide checking account information and to withdraw money -- usually $299 -- from their checking accounts to pay for a nonexistent prescription drug plan.

According to CMS, which issued the warning, legitimate Medicare drug plans cannot ask for payment over the telephone or Internet. Instead, they must bill beneficiaries for monthly premiums. Patients can pay by authorizing an automatic withdrawal from their monthly Social Security checks or by sending a monthly check or establishing automatic payments from their checking accounts.

"No Medicare drug plan can ask a person with Medicare for bank account or other personal information over the telephone," says a CMS news release about the scam. "No beneficiary should ever provide that kind of information to a caller."

CMS has received complaints about such calls from beneficiaries in Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Georgia, and the agency advises that patients should call their local police if they are asked to provide information over the telephone.

Concerned physicians can download and provide copies of "Quick Facts About Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage and Protecting Your Personal Information," (PDF file: 2 pages / 377 KB. More about PDFs.) a patient education handout that provides information about rules governing Medicare prescription plan marketing and how patients can protect their identities. They also can guide patients to the Federal Trade Commission's ID Theft Web site for general information on how to avoid falling prey to such scams.