How to Join the Do Not Call Registry, Recognise Illegal Medicare Sales Calls, and Look Beyond
“Free” Food Card Offers
Medicare decisions can already feel complicated without unexpected calls, aggressive sales pitches, and television advertisements promising benefits that sound too good to pass up.
You may hear about grocery cards, food allowances, flex cards, dental benefits, transportation, or money back in your Social Security check. Some of these benefits may be available through certain Medicare Advantage plans. However, they are not automatically available to everyone, and enrolling to receive one advertised benefit may mean changing your entire Medicare health plan.
Before giving a caller your information or agreeing to change coverage, take time to understand who is contacting you, what they are legally permitted to do, and what could change if you enrol in a different plan.
What Is the National Do Not Call Registry?
The National Do Not Call Registry is a free service managed by the Federal Trade Commission. It allows consumers to register their personal home or mobile phone numbers to reduce unwanted sales calls from legitimate telemarketing companies that follow the law.
The Registry does not physically block calls. It tells registered telemarketers that they should not call the listed number for sales purposes. Scammers and companies already breaking the law may still call, so registration should be combined with caution and call-blocking tools.
How to Register Your Number
You can register a personal home or mobile phone number in either of two ways:
Register Online
Visit the official DoNotCall.gov website and enter the phone number you want to register.
You will receive a confirmation email containing a link. You must click that link within 72 hours to complete the registration.
Register by Phone
Call 1-888-382-1222 from the phone number you want to register.
TTY users may call 1-866-290-4236.
Registration is free. Your number should appear on the Registry by the next day, although it may take up to 31 days for covered sales calls to stop. Your registration does not expire unless the number is disconnected and reassigned or you request its removal.
Important Registration Reminders
- You can register both home and mobile numbers.
- Business phone numbers and fax numbers are not covered.
- Do not pay anyone to register your number.
- Do not give information to a caller offering to register you.
- When registering several numbers online, complete the email confirmation for each number.
- A new phone number must be registered separately.
Will the Registry Stop Every Call?
No. The Do Not Call Registry is primarily designed to reduce unwanted sales calls.
Under general FTC rules, certain calls may still be permitted, including:
- Purely informational calls
- Political calls
- Charitable solicitations
- Surveys
- Debt-collection calls
These calls cannot include a hidden sales pitch and still claim the exemption.
A company may also be permitted to contact you when you have recently done business with it or provided written permission. However, when you clearly tell the company not to call again, it must honour that request.
Sales robocalls generally require your prior written permission. A recorded sales call placed without that permission may be illegal whether or not your number appears on the Registry.
What Are Telemarketers Required to Do?
Under the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, telemarketers generally cannot call before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. in your local time.
They cannot be deceptive, abusive, or dishonest about the product, company, price, or terms of an offer.
They must identify the seller or organisation they represent, explain that the call is a sales or charitable solicitation, disclose material information about the offer, and transmit identifying information to caller ID when possible.
These general telemarketing rules work alongside additional Medicare-specific marketing protections.
What Medicare Plan Representatives Are Allowed to Do
Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug plan representatives may contact you in certain circumstances.
A representative may generally call when:
- You are already a member of the plan.
- You gave the plan or representative permission to contact you.
- The agent previously helped you enrol in the plan.
- You requested information or scheduled an appointment.
- Information is missing from an Extra Help application and the plan needs to follow up.
A licensed agent may explain plan options, provide official materials, answer questions, and assist with an enrollment form when you have requested that help.
Independent agents and brokers selling Medicare plans must be licensed by the appropriate state, and the Medicare plan must report which agents are authorised to sell its products.
Permission Does Not Mean Unlimited Permission
Be careful when completing online forms that promise information about Medicare benefits, food cards, dental coverage, or savings.
A form may include consent language allowing one or more insurance organisations to call, text, or email you. Read the consent statement before submitting your name and phone number.
CMS has strengthened rules involving third-party marketing organisations. When a third-party marketing organisation collects a Medicare beneficiary’s information, it may share that information with another marketing organisation only when the individual provides prior express written consent for that specific organisation.
What Medicare Sales Representatives Are Not Allowed to Do
According to Medicare’s official marketing rules, people representing Medicare health and drug plans are not allowed to:
- Cold-call you unless you are already a plan member or gave permission to be contacted.
- Come to your home uninvited to sell or promote a plan.
- Ask for bank account or credit card information merely to provide a quote.
- Require you to speak with a sales agent before receiving basic plan information.
- Offer cash or gifts worth more than $15 to persuade you to enrol.
- Provide free meals during a Medicare plan sales presentation.
- Ask you to pay a plan premium over the phone or online; the plan must send a bill.
- Present a Medicare Advantage plan as though it were a Medicare Supplement or Medigap policy.
- Sell life insurance, annuities, or other non-health products during a Medicare health or drug plan sales appointment.
- Discuss products you did not agree to hear about during an appointment.
- Market plans or enrol people during an educational event.
- Conduct marketing in treatment areas such as examination rooms, hospital rooms, or pharmacy counters.
- Use misleading Medicare logos, words, or images that create the impression that the seller represents the federal Medicare programme.
Red Flags That Should Make You End the Call
Hang up when a caller:
- Says you must act immediately or lose Medicare.
- Claims that everyone automatically qualifies for a grocery or food card.
- Refuses to provide the exact plan name.
- Says the call is “from Medicare” but is selling a private plan.
- Requests your full Medicare number before explaining the purpose of the call.
- Requests banking information to provide a quote.
- Pressures you to enrol without reviewing your doctors and prescriptions.
- Tells you not to contact your current agent or insurance company.
- Promises that nothing about your current coverage will change.
- Cannot explain whether the offer requires you to leave your current plan.
- Avoids discussing prescriptions, medical providers, deductibles, copayments, or prior authorisation
Caller ID is not proof that a call is legitimate. Scammers can display a false or “spoofed” name and telephone number. The FTC recommends hanging up rather than pressing buttons or following instructions during a suspicious robocall.
What Is a Medicare “Food Card”?
Terms such as “food card,” “grocery card,” “flex card,” or “healthy foods allowance” are often used in television commercials and sales advertisements.
These cards are not a universal benefit issued to everyone by Original Medicare.
They are generally supplemental benefits that may be offered through certain private Medicare Advantage plans. Benefits, eligibility, approved purchases, allowance amounts, participating stores, and availability vary by plan and service area.
Some food and produce benefits are offered as Special Supplemental Benefits for the Chronically Ill. These benefits may only be available to plan members who meet the plan’s health-related eligibility requirements. CMS permits qualifying plans to offer food and produce that may help chronically ill enrollees meet nutritional needs, but not every member or applicant will qualify.
A Food Card Is Not Free Money From Medicare
A food or flex card is normally connected to a particular private Medicare Advantage plan.
To receive the advertised card, you may have to enrol in that plan. This means you are not simply adding a card to your current coverage. You may be replacing the way you currently receive your Medicare Part A and Part B benefits.
Medicare Advantage plans bundle Part A, Part B, and usually Part D prescription drug coverage into one private plan. They may also include extra benefits that Original Medicare does not provide.
Will a Food Card Take Away Prescription Coverage?
However, enrolling in a different Medicare Advantage plan to obtain the card may change your prescription benefits because most Medicare Advantage plans include their own Part D drug coverage.
Every prescription drug plan has its own list of covered medications, known as a formulary. Each plan may also use different preferred pharmacies, drug tiers, copayments, coinsurance amounts, deductibles, prior-authorisation requirements, quantity limits, or step-therapy rules.
A medication that is covered affordably by your current plan may:
- Cost more under the new plan.
- Move to a higher drug tier.
- Require prior authorisation.
- Require you to try another medication first.
- Be covered only at certain pharmacies.
- No longer appear on the new plan’s formulary.
The correct question is not only, “How much is the food card?”
The better question is:
“What will my entire health and prescription coverage look like after I enrol in the plan offering the card?
What Else Could Change When You Switch Plans?
Choosing a new Medicare Advantage plan for one additional benefit may change several important parts of your coverage.
Your Doctors and Hospitals
Medicare Advantage plans generally use provider networks. You may need to receive non-emergency care from doctors and hospitals participating in the plan’s network and service area.
A doctor who accepts your current plan may not participate in the new plan.
Your Prescription Drugs and Pharmacy
The new plan may use a different drug formulary and preferred pharmacy network. Even when your medication remains covered, your share of the cost may change.
Referrals and Prior Authorisation
A new plan may require referrals to see specialists or prior authorisation before it covers certain services, procedures, supplies, or medications. Original Medicare generally does not require prior authorisation in most cases, while Medicare Advantage plans may require it for certain care.
Your Medical Costs
The premium may be low or even advertised as $0, but that does not mean the plan has no costs.
Review the:
Primary care copayment
Specialist copaymen
Hospital copaymen
Emergency room cost
Outpatient surgery cost
Diagnostic imaging cost
Medical and drug deductibles
Coinsurance
Maximum out-of-pocket limit
Out-of-network costs
Medicare Advantage plans may have different out-of-pocket costs for services and include an annual limit on covered Medicare expenses.
Your Medigap Coverage
A person enrolled in Medicare Advantage cannot use a Medigap policy to pay Medicare Advantage plan costs.
Leaving Original Medicare and Medigap for Medicare Advantage may also affect whether you can purchase the same Medigap coverage later, depending on your situation, state rules, and guaranteed-issue rights. Medicare confirms that Medigap cannot be used as supplemental coverage for Medicare Advantage.
Questions to Ask Before Accepting a Food Card Offer
Before changing plans, request the exact plan name and ask the representative to answer all of the following questions:
- Do I have to change my current Medicare plan to receive this benefit?
- What is the exact name and contract number of the plan?
- Do I qualify for the food benefit, or is it limited to members with certain chronic conditions?
- What is the actual allowance amount and how often is it loaded?
- What products can I purchase with the card?
- Which stores accept it?
- Does unused money expire at the end of the month or quarter?
- Are all of my prescriptions on the new plan’s formulary?
- What will each prescription cost at my preferred pharmacy?
- Are my doctors, specialists, hospitals, and pharmacies in-network?
- Will I need referrals or prior authorisation?
- What are the hospital, specialist, emergency, and outpatient costs?
- What is the maximum amount I could pay out of pocket for covered medical care?
- Are dental, vision, and hearing benefits comprehensive, or do they have low annual limits?
- What current coverage will end when the new plan becomes effective?
Do not rely only on the salesperson’s verbal explanation. Review the plan’s official Summary of Benefits, Evidence of Coverage, provider directory, and drug formulary.
Before You Enrol: Use the “Coverage First” Rule
An extra benefit should be treated as a bonus—not as the main reason to choose a Medicare plan.
Review your coverage in this order:
1. Prescription Drugs
Make sure your medications are covered at an affordable cost.
2. Doctors and Hospitals
Confirm that the exact plan includes the providers and facilities you use
3. Medical Costs
Compare hospital, specialist, outpatient, emergency, and maximum out-of-pocket costs.
4. Plan Rules
Understand referrals, prior authorisation, networks, and travel limitations.
5. Extra Benefits
Only after reviewing the core coverage should you compare food cards, dental, vision, hearing, transportation, over-the-counter allowances, fitness benefits, and other extras.
A strong Medicare plan is not necessarily the plan with the most exciting commercial. It is the plan that protects access to the care, prescriptions, and providers that matter most to you.
How to Report an Unwanted or Suspicious Call
When reporting an unwanted call, record:
- The telephone number shown on caller ID
- Any callback number provided
- The date and time of the call
- The company or plan name used
- The name of the caller
- What the caller promised or requested
- Whether you asked the caller to stop
For unwanted sales calls, submit a report through the official Do Not Call Registry.
When money was lost or personal information was provided to a scammer, report the incident through the FTC’s fraud-reporting system.
The FTC notes that individual reports may not receive a personal response, but reports help regulators identify calling patterns and investigate illegal activity.
For concerns involving a Medicare health or drug plan, contact 1-800-MEDICARE at 1-800-633-4227. TTY users may call 1-877-486-2048. Medicare representatives are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except certain federal holidays.
Get a Complete Medicare Review Before You Make a Change
You should never feel rushed into changing your Medicare coverage because of a telephone call, television commercial, or promised food allowance.
Kannonball Insurance Solutions helps clients understand Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicare prescription drug coverage, and Medicare Supplement options. A complete review should consider your prescriptions, providers, health needs, budget, and coverage priorities—not only the advertised extras.
Talk With a Licensed Kannonball Insurance Agent
Call Kannonball Insurance Solutions at 254-918-5444
Before making a change, ask for a side-by-side review of:
- Your current plan
- The proposed new plan
- Prescription coverage
- Doctor and hospital networks
- Medical costs
- Prior-authorisation requirements
- Additional benefits
- What coverage you may lose
Do not change your plan for one attractive benefit until you understand the entire plan.