Alert: Medicare is NOT issuing new Medicare cards

||| FROM TERRI OSBORNE for OFFICE OF THE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER |||

The scammers are at it again! If you receive a call telling you Medicare is replacing your paper Medicare card with a plastic one that contains a chip – BEWARE!! You are talking to a scammer!! They may just ask you to provide your Medicare card number, so they can scam the Medicare system. Or they may tell you there is a small fee for the new card and ask you to provide credit card information or banking information to pay the charge. DON’T DO IT!!

With that information, they can drain your bank account or run up hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars of bills on your credit card. There are no plans to replace the paper Medicare card with a more durable plastic card, with or without a chip.

Hang up the phone and contact the Statewide Health Insurance Benefit Advisers (SHIBA) about the fraudulent call. It’s especially helpful if you can provide the phone number the person is calling from. You can report the scam to your local SHIBA office or to the SHIBA office of the Washington state Office of the Insurance Commissioner. The phone number for SHIBA on Orcas Island is 360-376-5892; the state-wide toll-free number is: 1-800-562-6900.

The Orcas Island SHIBA office is located at the Orcas Senior Center and is staffed with trained volunteers who assist people with Medicare. The SHIBA program and its volunteers are overseen by the Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner. Our volunteers provide free, unbiased information in a private environment so your personal information remains confidential. In San Juan County the SHIBA volunteers are sponsored by the Orcas Senior Center.

If you would like to schedule your free and confidential counseling session, contact your Orcas Island SHIBA office at 360-376-5892.