False advertising for Medicare

[Texas Proud]

I was thinking of putting this in the pet peeve thread but decided to have a separate thread.


Today I was watching live TV (I do not do that much anymore) and a medicare commercial came on that really pissed me off. It was one of those 'call for benefits' ones but I thought it was really false advertising.


Some lady was yelling at her husband for NOT calling to get 'all their benefits'... he said we have Part A and Part B, what else do we need. She said 'we do not have part C'. She went on to say that they would still have Part A and Part B but all the extra benefits that Part C has such as dental (with a long list of what was covered), vision and some others.


Now this made it appear that you could keep the original Part A and Part B and only add benefits 'if you make the call'... and from what I can tell they are only a service that forwards your info to a real agent!!!


This should be illegal...


BTW, the other commercials were Meso, Camp Lejeune, some kind of foam used by firefighters and Roundup!!! I kid you not.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Imagine being married to that lady, she's so mean.

 

[Tadpole]

I remember seeing a commercial like that and cussing at it, calling the actors liars.

 

[Telly]

CMS has clamped down on Medicare Advantage truth in advertising. Effective September 1st, new rules.

I expect the old commercials will be run through Aug. 31st!

 

[athena53]

Imagine being married to that lady, she's so mean.

And why hadn't she done it herself?

I'm really glad they're cracking down on this advertising. I'm visiting family and he's just become Medicare eligible and has selected an Advantage plan that many people around here like. At least in his case, he understands the consequences, including the fact that he may have difficulty getting a Supplement if he wants to switch back to traditional Medicare after developing serious health issues.

 

[Badger]

I was thinking of putting this in the pet peeve thread but decided to have a separate thread.


Today I was watching live TV (I do not do that much anymore) and a medicare commercial came on that really pissed me off. It was one of those 'call for benefits' ones but I thought it was really false advertising.


Some lady was yelling at her husband for NOT calling to get 'all their benefits'... he said we have Part A and Part B, what else do we need. She said 'we do not have part C'. She went on to say that they would still have Part A and Part B but all the extra benefits that Part C has such as dental (with a long list of what was covered), vision and some others.


Now this made it appear that you could keep the original Part A and Part B and only add benefits 'if you make the call'... and from what I can tell they are only a service that forwards your info to a real agent!!!


This should be illegal...


BTW, the other commercials were Meso, Camp Lejeune, some kind of foam used by firefighters and Roundup!!! I kid you not.

Those commercials are so misleading and full of important omitted information. Can you imagine all the people (the majority) who don't understand or are not financially capable of saving for retirement that get sucked into these commercials/products. Trying to wade through the variations to compare programs is daunting to say the least.
When we married my wife had about 10 years in Coast Guard reserves and she decided to continue another 10+ for the future medical insurance benefits for us. The reserves income was low/insignificant and the pension is very small but she was willing to get future "pay" in the form of health insurance to make up the short pay. So many non-military don't seem to understand this thinking. I am so glad that we planned decades ago. Now we have both standard Medicare and Tricare for Life that pretty much pays for all our medical needs including prescriptions.

Cheers!

 

[Katsmeow]

Now this made it appear that you could keep the original Part A and Part B and only add benefits 'if you make the call'... and from what I can tell they are only a service that forwards your info to a real agent!!!


This should be illegal...

To me the big issue on these is that it extols the so called benefits of Medicare Advantage (Part C) but doesn't give the disadvantages. This is not the sort of thing where agents should be able to just outright mislead people. If someone knows the pros and cons of Medicare Advantage and decides to do it then fine. But so many people just have no idea....

 

[Qs Laptop]

.
Some lady was yelling at her husband for NOT calling to get 'all their benefits'... he said we have Part A and Part B, what else do we need. She said 'we do not have part C'. She went on to say that they would still have Part A and Part B but all the extra benefits that Part C has such as dental (with a long list of what was covered), vision and some others.

Now this made it appear that you could keep the original Part A and Part B and only add benefits 'if you make the call'... and from what I can tell they are only a service that forwards your info to a real agent!!!


This should be illegal...

The government is starting to address misleading Medicare supplemental advertising. While I don't think they go far enough, it is a start.

https://www.aarp.org/health/medicar...own-on-misleading-medicare-advantage-ads.html

 

[Tadpole]

So open season starts Oct. 15, and they can continue to do this until Sept. 30. Why not a cease-and-desist order as of now?

 

[teej1985]

The government is starting to address misleading Medicare supplemental advertising. While I don't think they go far enough, it is a start.

https://www.aarp.org/health/medicar...own-on-misleading-medicare-advantage-ads.html

That's not Medicare Supplement advertising, it's Medicare Advantage advertising....the distinction is important.