Medicare Open Enrollment Scams: A Five-Minute Briefing for Your Front Desk

Briefing

Medicare Open Enrollment runs from October 15 through December 7. The FTC warned on September 28, 2026 that scammers and dishonest businesses pay to appear at the top of search results, using lookalike web addresses and official-looking logos to pass as Medicare.gov or HealthCare.gov. People who follow those ads can end up paying for something that is not health insurance or handing over enough information for medical identity theft.

Medical and dental offices sit close to this problem. Patients call the practice when a letter or call seems odd, and impersonators sometimes claim to be calling from a doctor's office or an insurer. Front desk staff who know the warning signs protect patients and reduce the chance that the practice itself is used as cover.

The FTC also notes that real Medicare representatives do not call, text or email out of the blue asking for a Medicare number or payment, and that caller ID can be faked.

What to do

1. Brief front desk staff: if a patient asks about a call or ad, point them to typing Medicare.gov directly or calling 1-800-MEDICARE.
2. Never confirm a patient's Medicare number, date of birth or insurance details to an inbound caller who claims to be an insurer; call back on a number from your own records.
3. Add a line to your patient phone script for open enrollment questions.
4. Remind staff that search results labeled Ad or Sponsored are paid placements and that government sites end in .gov.
5. Log suspicious calls that impersonate the practice and report them at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

How to verify

• Ask two front desk staff what they would say to a patient who got a call about a "new Medicare card". Both answers should end with calling 1-800-MEDICARE.
• Check that your callback procedure for insurer calls is written down where staff can see it.
• Search for your practice name and confirm no lookalike ads use it.

Sources

• FTC, What to know ahead of Open Enrollment to avoid health insurance scams (Sept. 28, 2026)
• FTC, Medicare Open Enrollment scam advice (Sept. 30, 2025)
• FTC, Searching for health insurance? Keep scrolling (June 9, 2026)

Want help putting this in place? Contact Computer Plus or compare our plans.