The Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration on Aging and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have launched a national education effort to ensure that seniors have the information they need to protect themselves from potential scams or fraud.
The national campaign will include radio, television and print advertising and outreach efforts.
A $1 million national radio buy will kick off the campaign, running June through August as $250 tax-free rebate checks get mailed to eligible seniors each month. CMS will purchase time in markets with high percentages of Medicare recipients who fall into the donut hole and also time on ethnic radio to communicate with groups who have been more often targeted by scams.
Thirty- and sixty-second radio spots will be produced in English, Spanish, Korean, and Armenian for the initial radio buy.
"The more we can work together to educate the American people about ways to protect themselves and the healthcare system from fraud and scams, the better chance we have to protect taxpayer dollars and the Medicare Trust Funds," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "In addition to this outreach and education media campaign, we are working with organizations across the country to ensure seniors know where to turn to get information about the new law and their Medicare benefits."
"Since early April, we have learned of seniors across the country who are being asked for personal information to help them get a rebate check," said CMS Acting Administrator Marilynn Tavenner. "Beneficiaries who reach the donut hole will get a check mailed to the same address Medicare uses to send them information now without doing anything special."
Seniors should be on the lookout for scams where people they don't know ask them for their personal information in order to get their checks, she said. This is not how the process will work. Checks will come directly to beneficiaries who qualify for this benefit under the Affordable Care Act.
The first $250 checks are being mailed June 10 to those Medicare beneficiaries who entered the Medicare Part D donut hole, also known as the coverage gap, in the first quarter of 2010 and are not eligible for Medicare Extra Help (the low-income subsidy or LIS).