A dear friend texted me the other day, “How do I stop all this?” She turns 65 in a few months and her phone was ringing constantly with sales calls about Medicare. If you’re also wondering how to stop the calls, read on for some practical tips.
Rikki Don’t Lose that Number…no please, lose it!
How do these Medicare salespeople get your number? In the digital age, your privacy is shrinking. So much information about you is online, including your phone number. Robocalls and AI (artificial intelligence) mean scammers can dial through all 10 phone digits until they find you.
Will signing up for Do Not Call stop the calls? Unfortunately, registering for the National Do Not Call Registry at donotcall.gov doesn’t block the sales calls. Telemarketers and scammers can still make illegal calls to your phone.
So what can you do to slow the Medicare sales call madness?
- Set your phone to show Caller ID and block spam callers.
- Block the number for the unwanted call and ask if your cell phone provider offers call labeling software (which shows spam or spam likely).
- Only answer your phone from known contacts. A legitimate caller from your doctor or others you deal with will leave you a voice mail.
- If a sales call gets through, you can ask the caller to put you on their Do Not Call list. Most telemarketers’ calls are recorded, so your request will be noted.
- And yes, you can report a caller to the FTC (https://www.donotcall.gov/report.html).
How can you protect yourself if you do answer the phone?
- Don’t say yes. Bad actors can use your “yes” as a voice signature to sign you up for a different Medicare plan. Instead, if a caller asks a question, restate it without the “yes.” For example, “Is this Mary Smith?”, answer “This is she; who’s calling?” If the caller asks, “Can you hear me?”, answer “I can hear you.”
- Just hang up. Even if you were raised in the South, you don’t have to be polite.
- Note the difference between a professional and a scammer. A professional will speak clearly, let you move at your own pace, and provide you with answers to your questions. Scammers will rush you, prey on your emotions, and make you feel uncomfortable if you don’t say yes.
- Don’t give out your personal information unless you are ready to do business with the salesperson.
What do you do if you think you might have gotten scammed or moved to a new insurance company?
- Open your mail. If you receive new ID cards in the mail from an insurance company that you didn’t sign up for, you can call the number on the back of the new ID card and ask what happened, cancel the application, and report the salesperson.
- Call your current insurance company and tell them you were (or might have been) switched against your wishes and you want to keep their insurance.
- Make note of when and who you spoke with for each call.
- If you have an insurance agent, he or she can also help guide you through this process.
Not everybody who calls you is a bad guy. So what does a good salesperson sound like on the phone?
- A legitimate professional will speak slowly and plainly, so you can easily understand him or her.
- The caller will clearly identify themselves and state the reason for their call.
- A professional will never hurry you to make a decision, will answer all your questions, and will check your understanding of your decision several times throughout the call.
- A good salesperson will not mind letting you check them out. They will be registered at the Department of Insurance for your state. They might have a website or Facebook page that shows who they are and how to reach them.
- They’re in it for the long haul. An insurance professional will be available after the sale to answer questions, solve problems, and ensure that your choice remains a good fit for you.
