You might have received an email recently that claimed it was from Medicare, the federal health care insurance program used mainly by people age 65 and older. You might have thought it was spam since it looked like an ad.
There's a good chance it wasn't. Instead, it might have been official correspondence asking you to sign up for electronic delivery of Medicare Summary Notices (MSNs). We confirmed with a spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that an email campaign is underway.
What are MSNs? They are notices that describe the services and supplies you received that were billed to Medicare, along with an explanation of what Medicare paid and the maximum amount you may owe to the providers of the supplies and services. While the mailed version of the MSN comes every three months, the electronic version, known as an eMSN, is monthly.
Medicare has been offering eMSNs since 2015, according to the CMS spokesperson, who added that each spring Medicare conducts an email campaign targeting those email addresses on file that have not opted to receive MSNs electronically.
How can you tell if the email you received about eMSNs is from Medicare? According to the spokesperson, the monthly eMSN will show up in a beneficiary's email inbox stating that it is from Medicare and will have a "from" email address of medicare@subscriptions.medicare.gov. For Spanish email addresses, the "from" email address will be slightly different: esmedicare@subscriptions.medicare.gov.
The spokesperson explained that currently about 2.3 million people are signed up for eMSNs, which is roughly 6.7% of the fee-for-service Medicare population. The spokesperson added that people with Medicare who have a Medicare Advantage plan (coverage offered by a Medicare-approved private company) do not get MSNs; instead, they receive an Explanation of Benefits from their plan provider.
How do you sign up for eMSNs? You can go to Medicare.gov and click on the blue "Log in/Create Account" button. On the next page, you'll see a smaller link in blue type that states "create an account now." Follow the directions from there.
Once your account is created, look at the top of your homepage for "My Messages," then select "Get your Medicare Summary Notices (MSNs) electronically." That will take you to the "My communication preferences" page, where "Change eMSN preference" is located. Select yes and submit the request.
According to the Go Digital section at Medicare.gov (tinyurl.com/4rmhtaky), once you have created a Medicare digital account, you can:
-- Sign up to get the yearly "Medicare & You" handbook, which means you won't receive the paper copy, but instead a link to the PDF online. (Note: You'll need to sign up by May 31 to get the next one electronically.) On your digital account, go to "My Account Settings" and then "Edit my communication preferences." Look for "Do you wish to receive the 'Medicare & You' handbook electronically?"
-- Print a copy of your official Medicare card.
-- Get electronic versions of Medicare publications.
In short, you can avoid a huge pile of paper by signing up for the electronic versions. That means less paperwork for you to keep track of and organize.
When asked how much cost is saved, the CMS spokesperson said that based on an average of a Medicare beneficiary receiving six paper MSNs per year, with each one being six to eight pages long, each person who signs up for eMSNs saves the government about $4 per year, given current print costs and postage rates. The spokesperson added that the program has saved about $18 million in total since 2015.
It's wise to be wary about suspicious emails. In this case, the email in question is an effort to save paper and money. Consider signing up if you haven't already.
Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers Inc. of Stamford, Connecticut) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/comments (readers@juliejason.com). Please visit www.juliejason.com.
DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION