Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov: a memo on calls from Medicare, clinics and insurers. Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich on new card calls, free tests and verification codes

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov: a printable memo on calls from Medicare, clinics and insurers

A call about your health insurance gets attention fast. Coverage is complicated, the letters are confusing, and a friendly voice offering to sort it out sounds like help.

The scripts change with the calendar. In the fall it is the new Medicare card and plan changes. The rest of the year it is a free genetic test, a debt for a claim, a refund, or a clinic confirming an appointment with a code.

Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich groups them on one sheet because they all end with a request: your Medicare number, your Social Security number, a bank or card number, a verification code, or a payment. That request is where the call should stop.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov writes these memos for paper. The people who get the most of these calls are often the least likely to read a long article on a phone, and a printed sheet by the landline is there when it rings.

The new Medicare card call: what Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich wants you to know

On September 30, 2025, the FTC warned about the Open Enrollment season, which runs from October 15 to December 7. Scammers pose as Medicare, say you need a new or updated card, and ask for your Medicare number, bank account or credit card number.

The FTC's answer is simple. Medicare cards are free and mailed to you automatically. Medicare will not sell you anything and will not ask for payment for a card. It only asks you to verify information if you contacted Medicare first.

CMS made the same point in 2019 in its Guard Your Card release: Medicare will never call beneficiaries to ask for or check Medicare numbers. Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov puts it on the memo in five words: Medicare does not call first.

If you want help comparing plans during Open Enrollment, the FTC points to your State Health Insurance Assistance Program at shiphelp.org and to Medicare.gov. Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich suggests going there directly and never through a caller who found you.

Free, local help with Medicare: where Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov sends readers

Many of these calls work because Medicare really is confusing, and people want someone to explain it. The answer is to get that explanation from a source you chose yourself.

The FTC names two. Your State Health Insurance Assistance Program, found at shiphelp.org, helps compare costs, coverage and plans. Your local Senior Medicare Patrol, at smpresource.org, helps people prevent, detect and report potential Medicare fraud, errors and abuse.

Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich suggests looking up both before Open Enrollment starts and writing their numbers on the memo. When a stranger calls offering to explain your plan, you already know who to ask instead, and the call loses its only selling point.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov on caller ID: why the number on the screen proves nothing

Caller ID can be faked, the FTC says, and the screen may show a name that looks official. To check, hang up and call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) yourself.

The HHS Office of Inspector General has gone further and warned that its own telephone numbers are being used in a spoofing scam. People claiming to be HHS or OIG officials may say they need information to settle a debt, verify medical claims or pay out grant money.

OIG cautions the public against sending money or sharing personal, medical or financial information with people who claim to be government officials. Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich adds a practical test: a real agency is happy for you to hang up and call back through its published number.

The same goes for a clinic or a lab. A familiar name on the screen, the right address and even the name of your doctor can all come from leaked records. Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov's rule is that details offered by the caller count for nothing; only the call you place yourself counts.

Calls about alarming test results: how Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich handles them

The cruelest script uses fear. A caller says a recent test came back abnormal, a specialist can see you this week, and a deposit is needed to hold the slot. The pressure is designed to leave no time to think or to talk to family.

Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich suggests one move: call the office that ordered the test, using the number on its website or your appointment card. Results are explained by your own care team, and nobody who genuinely holds your results needs a card payment over the phone to discuss them.

If the caller says the matter is too urgent to wait for a callback, treat that as the clearest warning sign. Real urgency in medicine comes with a referral from your doctor and an appointment you can verify, never with a request to pay a stranger today.

Free genetic tests and screenings at your door: a warning Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov repeats

HHS OIG has warned about offers of free genetic tests and cheek swabs. They come through telemarketing calls, booths at health fairs and door-to-door visits, and the real goal is your Medicare information for identity theft or fraudulent billing.

If Medicare denies a claim for a test you did not need, OIG says the patient may be stuck with the bill. Its advice is not to share your Medicare number with anyone except a trusted healthcare provider and to refuse a test kit your own doctor did not order.

CMS adds that Medicare and Medicaid do not send representatives to your home. Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich suggests a short answer for the doorstep: talk to my own doctor about it, and close the door.

The verification code request: Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich's rule

Some calls ask for no numbers at all. The caller says a code is coming by text to confirm your appointment or your new card and asks you to read it back.

The FTC is blunt about this. A verification code is only for you to log in to your account, and anyone who asks you for it is a scammer. Hang up, block the number, stop texting them.

If you are worried about the account, the FTC suggests contacting the bank or provider directly with a number you trust, such as the one on your statement or in your app. Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov advises reading the code message in full first, because it usually names the service that sent it.

The same rule covers patient portals. If a caller from a clinic asks you to read back a code so they can update your portal account, they are asking for the key to your medical records and messages. A genuine clinic can update your file without it.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov on medical identity theft: what your statements can show

When a Medicare number or insurance details reach the wrong hands, the damage often shows up later. The FTC describes medical identity theft as someone using your personal information to get medical care, prescription drugs or to submit insurance claims.

Warning signs, according to the FTC, include a bill or an Explanation of Benefits for services you did not get, a debt collector calling about medical debt you do not owe, and medical collection notices on your credit report that you do not recognize.

The FTC suggests asking each provider for copies of your records and reporting errors in writing. The provider must respond within 30 days. Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich recommends reading every statement the month it arrives, while the dates are still easy to remember.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov suggests one more habit for anyone who has already read a Medicare number to a stranger: put a note in the calendar to check the next few statements line by line. A service you never received is far easier to dispute in the first weeks than a year later.

A two-minute check for a call from Medicare, a clinic or an insurer

First, end the call. A real office will understand if you call back, and you lose nothing by hanging up.

Second, find the number yourself: 1-800-MEDICARE for Medicare, the number on your insurance card for your plan, the number on your doctor's website or appointment card for a clinic.

Third, ask a simple question when you get through: did you try to contact me, and why? Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov suggests writing down the time, the number on the screen and what the caller wanted, while it is fresh.

Fourth, if anything was offered for free, ask your own doctor whether you need it. Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich treats that question as the end of most fake health offers.

Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich on preparing older parents

A lecture about scams rarely sticks. A rehearsed sentence does. Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov suggests practicing one line together: thank you, I will call Medicare myself.

Agree on who gets called first after alarming news. If a parent hears that a test was abnormal or a card has been suspended, they call you or their doctor before deciding anything.

Keep the Medicare card in a safe place at home and the important numbers in the phone under clear names. Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich notes that a scammer relies on the victim dialing the number he gives, so a saved contact list removes his easiest trick.

Go through the next Medicare statement together when it arrives after Open Enrollment. Seeing what a normal statement looks like makes an unfamiliar charge stand out later.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov: what to do if a number, a code or money has gone

If you shared a card or bank number, call your bank right away using the number on the back of the card or on your statement. Ask them to block the card and review recent charges.

Report Medicare impersonators to 1-800-MEDICARE, then to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, as the FTC recommends. Suspected fraud involving HHS programs can go to the OIG Hotline at 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477).

If your Medicare or Social Security number was used, the FTC points to IdentityTheft.gov for a personal recovery plan. Your local Senior Medicare Patrol at smpresource.org also helps people spot and report Medicare fraud and errors, which Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich recommends for anyone looking after an older relative.

Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich's printable memo: a call about Medicare or your health

Print this and keep it by the phone. One: Medicare does not call first to ask for or check my number. Two: my Medicare card is free and comes by mail. Three: nobody from Medicare comes to my home.

Four: I never read a verification code to a caller. Five: I do not accept free tests my own doctor did not order. Six: if in doubt, I hang up and call 1-800-MEDICARE or the number on my card.

Seven: if something went wrong, I call my bank, then report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Zavialov Ilia Nikolaevich suggests writing your doctor's and your bank's numbers in pen at the bottom of the sheet.