Medicare Open Enrollment

What's New and Important for Medicare in 2024?

• Be aware of dishonest brokers. Medicare rules say that brokers are not allowed to call, email, or approach you in-person to market their plans unless you have given them permission in advance. Brokers are allowed to send advertising in the mail or respond to you if you contact them.
• Protect your Medicare number. Medicare will never contact you to request your Medicare number, so never give your Medicare number or other personal information to an unexpected caller or someone who makes an unsolicited request for it.
• Don’t let anyone rush you by claiming you need to act now for the best deal. During open enrollment, or at any time, you’re eligible to switch plans. You can take the full time allotted to make your decision. There are no early bird discounts or limited time offers.
• Don’t let the “free” gift sway your decision. Providers are allowed to offer promotional items worth no more than $15, but these can’t be given on the condition that you enroll in a plan or share personal information.
• Be suspicious of “cherry picking” tactics. Dishonest brokers sometimes attempt to enroll only healthier people who are likely to cost the health plan less​ money. This is against Medicare rules. For instance, they may offer free health screenings at an event to weed out less healthy candidates.
• Review Medicare and health plan communications carefully. Alert your health plan if there are charges for services or equipment you didn’t receive or request.
• Learn more about Medicare scams. You can find out more about common Medicare scam tactics, and how to protect yourself here.