Beginning in 2006, Medicare will offer coverage for prescription drugs. Con artists are capitalizing on this by offering phony prescription drug plans. HereÌs what you need to know to take advantage of the Medicare discount drug card program and protect yourself from fraud.

• Check the list of Medicare-approved prescription drug plans. The list of approved plans and other information about the program are available at www.medicare.gov and by calling toll-free, 1-800-633-4227 (TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048.)
• If someone says you must join or youÌll lose your other Medicare benefits, itÌs a scam. The Medicare prescription drug benefit is voluntary. It supplements your other Medicare benefits.
• Guard your personal information from identity thieves posing as sales people. Legitimate plans may ask for your Social Security number, but only when you are actually enrolling. And they may only ask for your credit card or bank account information if you are arranging to make automatic payments for your drug coverage from that account.
• If someone claims to be calling from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and asks for your bank account, credit card, or life insurance policy numbers, itÌs a scam. SSA will never ask for that information, and the only time someone calling from the SSA will ask for your Social Security number is if you applied for low-income assistance and the number you put on your application wasnÌt correct.
• Know the law on how Medicare prescription drug plans can be marketed. ItÌs illegal for companies or organizations marketing Medicare drug plans to come to your door uninvited or to send you unsolicited emails. Companies and organizations can call to promote their drug plans, but itÌs illegal for them to sign people up during those calls. They must also obey telemarketing laws: itÌs illegal to call before 8 am or after 9 pm; call people whose telephone numbers are on a state or the federal "do not call" registry (with some exceptions); or call people who have asked not to be called again. For more information about your telemarketing rights and to put your phone number on the federal "do not call" registry, go to www.donotcall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222.
• Medicare prescription drug plans should come with no strings attached. Companies and organizations can offer modest prizes or gifts (but not cash) to promote their Medicare prescription drug plans Ò for instance, to people who attend a sales presentation Ò but itÌs illegal to require anyone to join a drug plan in order to get a prize or gift.
• DonÌt be fooled by sales materials that look like theyÌre from the government. Con artists often try to impress consumers with official-looking sales materials that look like theyÌre from a government agency.
• DonÌt confuse other types of drug coverage with Medicare prescription drug plans. Only plans approved by Medicare can be marketed as Medicare prescription drug plans. Approved plans will have a seal on their materials with "Medicare Rx" in large letters and "Prescription Drug Coverage" in smaller letters under that. Check with Medicare to make sure that the plan youÌre considering is approved.
• Report suspected Medicare drug plan scams. Call the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services, 1-800-447-8477, TTY 1-800-337-4950 (information about the Medicare drug plans is not available at these numbers). You can also report Medicare-related fraud by sending an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or writing to Inspector General, HHS, Attention: Hotline, 330 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201.