Two important deadlines are quickly approaching for adding or changing your health coverage if you use one of the following options: 

• Medicare:  December 7
• Affordable Care Act (ACA): December 15

Gretchen Abraham from the FTC's Division of Consumer & Business Education has shared the following tips on the Federal Trade Commission's website to help you avoid being scammed:

For Medicare:

• There are no Medicare sales representatives. Anyone who tried to sell you Medicare insurance is a scammer. 
• You do NOT have to join a prescription drug plan to keep your Medicare insurance. Medicare Part D is voluntary and has nothing to do with your regular Medicare coverage.
• Telephone scammers posing as "official agents" may ask for personal information, offer free equipment or services, ask for a quick payment, or threaten you. Just hang up.
• Help with Medicare is available at medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE.

For Affordable Care Act:

• Compare plans and quality ratings at healthcare.gov, where you can also enroll.
• This year, you can also sign up for an ACA plan directly with certain certified partners.  Make sure a company is on the Certified Partner list before giving them your information. 
• After you apply for ACA, you may get a phone call from the Marketplace asking you to verify information or supply additional information. If you are unsure about trusting the caller, ask the representative to mail you a letter with instructions for completing your application.
• Help for ACA is available from the Marketplace Call Center at 1-800-318-2596.  You can also meet with a local assistant in your community who will offer free assistance. Local assistance can be found through the Local Assistance tool.

See past postings at the SMP CyberSAFE archives page.

Student: "When you choose joy you feel good and when you feel good, you do good and when you do good it reminds others of what joy feels like and it just might inspire them to do the same."  Anonymous

Staff: "The holiday season is a perfect time to reflect on our blessings and seek out ways to make life better for those around us."  -Terri Marshall