Medicare Fall Enrollment Begins Wednesday

Medicare Fall Enrollment Begins Wednesday

BY KRISTIAN FODEN-VENCIL

Portland, OR November 12, 2008 6 a.m.

Medicare’s fall enrollment season starts this week. And as Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, officials are warning senior citizens not to fall for high-pressure marketing tactics.

Ron Fredrickson works for the Oregon Consumer Department. He says unscrupulous agents will try anything to get people to sign up for a particular plan: from showing up on their doorstep, to ambushing them in a doctors office.

Fredrickson: “Our recommendation is, don’t sign anything if you don’t understand it. And second of all, make sure that your doctor or doctors will take the plan.”

He says that if a health insurance premium is very low or offers benefits like ‘vision care’ and ‘dental care’ without extra cost, be wary.

He says in healthcare, as elsewhere, ‘If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.’

The ‘Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance’ program has a website where people can compare plans.

Senior citizens have until the end of December to change their enrollment if they wish.

© 2008 OPB