Medicare and Social Security…Rick Loek
The last week of August my wife, Mary Lee, and I attended a national training on Medicare and Social Security. There are many initiatives coming and even some great programs to help protect our seniors.
Two programs caught my attention. One is the Social Security Removal Initiative. Beginning in April of 2018 new Medicare cards will start arriving in your mailboxes. These new cards have removed your Social Security number from Medicare cards and replaced it with some “non-intelligent” number. What they are implying is that the number is mostly meaningless. There are a couple of digits that contain information of interest to the healthcare providers and Medicare agencies.
The second program that caught my eye is something called “Senior Medicare Patrol.” They are educating seniors about how to reduce or avoid healthcare fraud. They have many pamphlets and suggestions. They strongly suggest avoiding greedy insurance agents who want to switch your coverage. Switching coverage is seldom appropriate. Only after careful analysis, including benefits and cost, would one want to make any change(s). Senior Medicare patrol is accessible at 855-613-7080 or cahealthadvocates.org. Never ever give personal financial information in email, never! Look at http://CampbellAARP.org for more useful posts and resource