Vermont Senior Medicare Patrol
Have you ever reviewed your Medicare Summary Notice?
These notices arrive in the mail every 3 months and list all medical services you’ve received during that time.
Do you understand these documents and do you know how to compare them to billing received from your doctor or hospital?
Are there any charges for services that you don’t recognize? Billing mistakes happen more often than you might think!
Did you talk to a salesperson who knocked on your door to offer you a Medicare Advantage or Prescription Drug plan along with other products such as Long Term Care plans?
If so, did you invite this person to come to your home? Or did they just show up?
Did you receive a call from someone who stated they were from Medicare and needed to verify your Social Security number, date of birth or other personal information?
Or maybe you received a call from someone offering you a back or knee brace “that your doctor has already approved” - a product you’ve never needed before. Did you make this purchase and provide your banking or credit card information to the caller?
Have you been offered genetic testing services or diabetic supplies through the mail, by phone, or by email?
Perhaps you were solicited at your door.
These examples are common methods used by scammers who target Vermont Medicare beneficiaries. Because Medicare is funded through our tax system, these scams cost you, Medicare, and everyone else! Each year, Medicare loses approximately $90 billion to Medicare errors, fraud and abuse. At Vermont SMP, it is our goal to prevent these issues from occurring in our State.
Vermont SMP offers educational programs and one-on-one counseling to help build awareness about Medicare errors, fraud, and abuse. Beneficiaries learn how to read and compare medical billing; protect their identity; know when a caller is misrepresenting themselves; and, identify a scam before it occurs. Vermont SMP offers several educational programs to fit the needs of your organization, church or library group, or other gathering. Since the COVID-19 shutdown, we’ve also adapted our programs to a virtual environment.
Appropriate and prohibited behavior for Medicare Advantage marketing, updated January 2023. View documents.
If you or your group is interested in our programs, please check out this page.
If you would like to sign up for a program or our free quarterly newsletter, click here.
Feel free to check out our podcasts and other audio/video recording on this site, here
If you have been scammed or have identified errors in your Medicare Summary Notice, contact us here.