I just got an email from my bank, Chase. It looks very fishy to me, so I will not be clicking the link and providing my account information.  The email can be found at the end of this post. A person should never respond to a request like this which asks for important personal and financial information.

However, I have heard from clients who have been contacted by their Medicare Advantage plans offering to help them get a subsidy for their drug costs.  Several of my clients have said, “Thanks but no thanks” because they do not give out information over the phone. And yet, these were legitimate offers of help from Social Service Coordinators, a company that contracts with Medicare Advantage plans to reach out and help members qualify for and maintain help through the Medicare Savings Program and the Low Income Subsidy.

Another outreach effort by Medicare Advantage plans

Just this week a client told me her Medicare Advantage plan called to ask if a nurse could visit her to do an in-home checkup. My client thought this was very odd because she sees her primary care doctor regularly and has no particular issues. But as it turns out, Medicare Advantage plans are doing face-to-face meetings with people enrolled in their plans to do surveys of their health conditions. This information is provided to Medicare as part of the plan’s risk analysis. And this risk analysis helps the Advantage plan get more accurate payment from Medicare.

Here is the strange email I received from my bank.  Do you think it’s a scam?