Someone's calling about your Medicare

A stethoscope held in a hand — Photo: Shixart1985 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

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You'll see a big number quoted for Medicare fraud, often $60 billion a year. We don't use it. That figure counts improper payments, which is mostly billing mistakes and bad paperwork, not fraud. Nobody publishes a number we'd trust.

Here's what's certain, and smaller. A lot of it starts the same way: somebody gives their Medicare number to a stranger on the phone.

What it sounds like

"This is calling from Medicare. We're issuing new Medicare cards this year and yours is about to expire. I just need to confirm your Medicare number and date of birth to send your new card."

Or during open enrollment each fall.

"You qualify for a free genetic testing kit, a back brace, or a new benefit. I just need your Medicare number to process it."

What they want: your Medicare number. It works like a Social Security number for your medical identity. Whoever has it can bill Medicare for equipment or tests you never received, in your name.

The truth: Medicare works by mail. In its own words, it will never call you to sell you anything or visit you at your home. It won't ring out of the blue asking you to confirm anything. Not your Medicare number, Social Security number, or bank details. It already has them.

One exception, so a real call doesn't catch you out. If you reported fraud or left a message, someone may ring you back. That's a call you started. A call you didn't start, asking for your number, is the one this page is about.

What to do: hang up. If you think there's a real reason Medicare needs to reach you, call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) yourself. It's the number Medicare gives on its own website.

About the real new cards

Medicare has been mailing some beneficiaries new cards with new ID numbers this year, after a data exposure. This is real. It is also exactly the kind of real event scammers use as cover. A caller might claim to be "processing your new card" and ask you to confirm your number. That's impersonating a real mailing to get the one piece of information Medicare would never ask for by phone.

If your card is genuinely being replaced, it arrives by mail. No call, no confirmation asked of you. The letter with it may ask you to start using the new number from a certain date. It may also ask you to give the number to your doctors, so read it rather than assuming a real card needs nothing. If you're unsure whether a card in your hand is real, call 1-800-MEDICARE yourself.

The other version: open enrollment

Each fall, scammers pose as Medicare agents offering a better plan. They ask for your Medicare number to switch you over. A real agent from a plan you contacted can help you compare options. But an unsolicited call offering a better deal, asking for your number to lock it in, is the scam.

What to do: compare plans yourself at medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE. Or call your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), free, unbiased, no sales involved. Find yours at shiphelp.org.

If you already gave your number

Three different numbers, for three different jobs:

Medicare, 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), to ask about your own account and the claims on it. This is the one to call first.
The Senior Medicare Patrol, 877-808-2468, if you'd like somebody to go through a statement with you. It's free, federally funded, and local.
The HHS inspector general, 1-800-447-8477, to report suspected fraud. They take the report; they don't review your account.

Either way, watch your Medicare Summary Notice (the statement Medicare mails you listing your claims) for services you don't recognize.

On a call you didn't start, no real Medicare caller will ever ask you to confirm your number. The number is already theirs. Anyone asking for it is telling you, in that one sentence, that they aren't who they say.