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Watch Out forMedicare Scammers!
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Protect your Medicare coverage

Know the warning signs before you answer the call.

Scammers use calls, texts, and door-to-door visits to get your Medicare number or switch your coverage. Learn what to listen for, what never to share, and where to report a suspicious contact.

What a scam call sounds like

They might open friendly and low-key: "Hi, this is Casey, I'm calling about your Medicare coverage — I see you may qualify for some additional benefits." Caller ID can even be faked to look like a number you recognize. However it starts, the goal is the same: get you talking, then get your Medicare number, Social Security number, or bank information.

Robocalls and "plan review" pitches don't just show up during Open Enrollment anymore — it's year-round now. One of my clients told me this week he's getting more than 10 calls a day, every day. The plan they're pushing is almost always worse than the one you have.

I'm appointed with the insurers that write more than 98% of Louisiana's Medicare business, based on the state's own numbers.* The call you get might come from someone posing as an agent, or from a call center trying to transfer you to one — neither is allowed to contact you out of the blue unless you've specifically filled out a form requesting it. Either way, only a licensed, appointed agent can actually enroll you in anything.

Their incentive is to enroll you in something new, period — whether it's actually better for you or not. They'll highlight one thing that sounds good and skip everything that's worse. My incentive is different: keeping you as a client matters more to me than which plan you're on. Sometimes that means moving you, if something in your life changed. Most of the time, it means keeping you right where we carefully placed you.

They also lie — though not in the way you'd guess. Your own Medicare plan actually can call you; that's allowed, and it's not automatically a red flag. Medicare itself — the government program — never does. The real trick is a call center or agent you've never worked with, borrowing whichever carrier's name is most recognizable to sound credible, whether or not you've ever been that company's member. The question that matters isn't which company they claim — it's whether you asked for the call. If you didn't, and it's not your current carrier, that's the red flag: hang up and call me to check.

*98.83% combined, per LDI's 2025 Medicare market share data (ldi.la.gov/onlineservices/topTwentyPremiums/)

Three scripts to recognize

"You're missing out on a benefit." Commercials promising a Flex Card or grocery allowance aren't from me or from your plan — they're ads. Call the number on that commercial and you're not "checking eligibility," you're talking to a call center that gets paid to move you into a new plan, often with your current doctors out of network. If you see one of these and want to know if the benefit is real and available where you live, write it down and call me instead. I'm appointed with the carriers that write more than 98% of Louisiana's Medicare business — if it's real, I can get it without touching your current coverage.

"Your doctor is dropping your plan — we need to switch you today." This is designed to panic you into a decision on the spot. Legitimate network changes don't work this way and don't require an on-the-spot phone enrollment. Hang up and call me to check.

The door-knocker. CMS prohibits uninvited, unscheduled door-to-door Medicare sales visits — flat out, no exceptions, and even leaving a flyer or door hanger counts as a violation. The only time an agent can legally be at your door is an appointment you scheduled yourself, at a time you agreed to. If someone shows up cold — with a clipboard, a "benefits checklist," or a story about needing to verify your card in person — you don't owe them a conversation. You don't have to open the door all the way, and "I didn't schedule this" is a complete sentence. Don't hand over your Medicare card or let anyone photograph it. Get a name if you can, then close the door and call me or the Louisiana Department of Insurance to report it.

Rules to live by

  • Your current plan can legally call you about your coverage. Anyone else calling uninvited — an agent you've never worked with, or a call center — can't, and that's the red flag.
  • Never give your Medicare number, Social Security number, or bank information to someone who called you — treat that number like your Social Security number or a credit card number.
  • Even if it sounds like your own carrier, you don't have to prove anything on that call — hang up and call the number on your card, or call me, before you confirm a single detail.
  • If someone claims to be an agent, ask for a name and license number before you say another word — then verify it independently before you do anything else.
  • No one, including your own plan, can enroll you in anything without walking you through a required consent step first. Skip that step and the "change" isn't valid.
  • If your plan changes and you didn't ask for it, call me immediately — I can help get it changed back.

Verify and report