Medicare Commercials: Deciphering Fact from Fiction

September 8, 2022 | John Demko

Prepare yourself: we are about to enter the season of Medicare advertising. Soon you won’t be able to escape the barrage of mail, television, and online commercials about Medicare.

Insurance companies know that the annual election period (which runs from October 15 to December 7) is when you get to review your Medicare options and switch to a new Medicare plan or company. So these companies are eager to grab your attention!  

You probably wish you could ignore the distracting noise of these commercials. But at the same time, you worry you might miss something important. How can you sort through the mess and tell the difference between what is important and what you can ignore?   

Let’s start by talking about what IS important information, and move down through to messages you can ignore. 

IMPORTANT: Mail that comes directly from your insurance carrier 

If you receive mail from the company you purchased your Medicare coverage through, that mail is important. Each fall, your insurance company will send you notification about changes they are making to the plans for the coming year. This is known as the Annual Notice of Change, or ANOC.

Your insurer will announce changes to the list of drugs they will cover, changes to amounts they will charge for services, etc. These details are important because they apply to you and to the specific plan you purchased.  

What about mail that comes from other insurance companies?  

Mail that comes from any company other than the one you are currently enrolled with is simply advertising. And they will use all sorts of ploys to “hook” you.

Be wary of Medicare commercials

Ads tend to purposefully use vague, misleading, or incomplete information with the goal of prompting you to call them. By calling the phone numbers listed in these commercials, you could inadvertently be giving these companies permission to contact you and pressure you into a sale.

The ads often use strategies such as promising huge savings or discounts. But they don’t fully disclose that those savings are only available under very select, specific situations or locations. In other words, most of us don’t qualify for those discounts at all.   

When you meet with us at Twin City Underwriters, we review your needs. We help find a plan that includes the benefits most important and available to you. If mail or ads start telling you that there is an AMAZING benefit you might be missing out on, remember that we would always be the first ones to tell you about such options. Know that these ads are misconstruing the fine print.   

For example, one ad you might repeatedly see this season comes from the Medicare Coverage Helpline. It has celebrities like Joe Namath touting their message. What they don’t tell you, because they put it in such small print that it is impossible to read, is the following: 

“The Medicare Coverage Helpline is not affiliated with or acting on behalf of any government agency or program. The Medicare Coverage Hotline is a private for-profit lead generation campaign and does not offer insurance and is not an insurance agency or broker. Your call is sold to a licensed insurance agent to give you information about your Medicare Advantage Plans. Prescription, dental and vision benefits are not guaranteed, are only available in select plans and are not available in every state or zip code.” 

Don’t fall for these bait and switch tactics.  

Instead, focus on the information you receive from your insurance company, and information that comes from Twin City Underwriters. During the Annual Election Period, meet with us to review the plan options that are available to you – the real benefits available to you! Not the ones hinted at or lied about in those false ads.  

If your friends or family are overwhelmed by the barrage of Medicare messages, tell them about your experience with us and how we help cut through the confusion to make Medicare understandable and fun! We hope these tips can help you distinguish between fact and fiction so that you can spend less time sorting your mail and more time on the activities you enjoy.