馃攳
Is the Flex Card for Seniors Legit? - YouTube
Channel: Low Income Relief
[0]
have you heard about the new flex cards
[2]
for seniors have you wondered if this is
[4]
a legitimate offer or worried that this
[7]
is a scam
[8]
if so i've got answers i'm nicole from
[11]
low income relief where we help millions
[13]
of people save money and get free stuff
[16]
we've had countless people reach out to
[18]
us about these senior flex cards in this
[21]
video we're going to go over some
[23]
important questions including is the
[25]
flex card for seniors legit
[27]
why are medicare scams so common
[30]
how can you protect yourself from
[32]
scammers and bad actors and how can you
[35]
get a real flex card before we get into
[38]
the flex card specifically you need to
[40]
know that scammers love medicare open
[42]
enrollment season
[43]
historically the open enrollment period
[46]
between october and december is prime
[48]
time for scammers who want to prey on
[50]
seniors
[52]
there are also many websites that have
[54]
affiliate relationships with various
[56]
medicare advantage providers which means
[58]
that they get a commission if they can
[61]
lure you into a sale and although they
[64]
aren't technically scammers
[66]
some of these affiliates don't mind
[68]
playing dirty and being deceptive in
[70]
their advertising if it'll get you to
[72]
sign up
[73]
navigating health insurance is
[75]
complicated enough without worrying
[77]
about these bad actors but it's
[79]
unfortunately something we always have
[81]
to be vigilant about so let's talk about
[83]
these flex cards according to my
[86]
research there are some legitimate flex
[88]
cards for seniors but they are being
[90]
deceptively advertised i have only seen
[93]
a few ads myself but it looks like this
[96]
is being marketed as free money that all
[98]
seniors can get without any sacrifices
[100]
or strings attached and that is just not
[103]
true
[104]
flex cards are tied to health insurance
[107]
and these flex cards for seniors are
[109]
actually specifically tied to certain
[112]
medicare advantage plans they're being
[114]
used as a marketing tactic to lure
[116]
seniors into switching their medicare
[118]
plans
[119]
now flex cards themselves just hold
[121]
money that can be used like a debit card
[123]
to pay for certain medical expenses like
[125]
doctors visits prescriptions
[127]
over-the-counter medications and other
[129]
out-of-pocket costs in some cases you
[133]
can use your card to purchase healthy
[134]
groceries at participating stores as
[136]
well
[137]
and you can even add a flex card to your
[139]
amazon account for eligible purchases
[142]
however you cannot just spend flex card
[144]
money on anything you want
[147]
the reason seniors are specifically
[149]
being targeted by these flex card offers
[151]
is because they're tied to medicare
[153]
advantage plans and it's open enrollment
[156]
season
[156]
as you may know from our previous video
[158]
on medicare benefits medicare has many
[161]
parts and it's very complicated medicare
[164]
advantage insurers make it a little
[166]
easier by bundling all the benefits
[168]
together and often packaging additional
[170]
benefits into their plans
[172]
however the costs for these plans vary
[175]
and not all seniors are eligible for
[177]
them i was able to identify many flex
[180]
cards from legitimate insurers like
[182]
humana and amerigroup but i couldn't
[184]
find any that were as large as some of
[186]
the ads i'd seen i think the largest
[188]
legitimate flex plan i found included a
[191]
1 000 flex card and a 50 monthly debit
[194]
card for other out-of-pocket cost-like
[196]
groceries that's a total of sixteen
[198]
hundred dollars a year which is helpful
[200]
but it's far less than the two thousand
[202]
eight hundred and eighty dollar plans i
[204]
saw advertise ultimately the amount of
[207]
money that you may be able to receive on
[209]
a flex card varies depending on what
[211]
plan you choose
[212]
where you live and other variables many
[215]
of the flex card offers i found were
[217]
only available for enrollees in specific
[219]
states and even if you are eligible it's
[222]
important to evaluate any medicare
[224]
advantage plan very carefully
[227]
although the flex card is an enticing
[229]
offer you need to make sure that you
[231]
aren't sacrificing other precious health
[233]
care benefits to get it
[235]
if you don't read the fine print
[236]
carefully you may end up paying the
[238]
price in other ways
[241]
health care is confusing and it's too
[243]
important to make mistakes on when
[245]
people advertise things like these flex
[248]
offers it's usually because they have a
[250]
financial interest in getting you to
[252]
sign up it can be almost impossible to
[254]
sort out the paid agents and the
[256]
legitimate unbiased experts that can
[258]
help you make these decisions
[260]
as a general rule you should never
[264]
never provide your sensitive personal
[266]
information online to unknown
[267]
organizations
[269]
never give out your name address
[271]
medicare number social security number
[273]
or bank information or other identifying
[275]
details to someone who claims to be a
[278]
medicare sales representative online if
[280]
they approach you or contact you first
[283]
do not engage
[285]
most legitimate organizations will
[287]
require you to reach out first they
[289]
won't just contact you unsolicited so if
[292]
someone reaches out to you and then asks
[294]
for your personal information that is a
[296]
huge red flag there are also many
[299]
legitimate looking websites that are
[301]
just trying to fish your information be
[303]
careful what you click on and always
[306]
read the fine print
[307]
for example remember when we showed you
[309]
that ad at the beginning of this video
[311]
if you scroll down to the bottom of that
[313]
page you'll see this
[315]
please be aware that this is an
[316]
advertisement and not an actual news
[318]
article blog or consumer protection
[320]
update this website may receive paid
[323]
compensation for clicks or sales
[324]
produced from the content found on this
[326]
webpage basically if you give this site
[329]
your personal information they are
[331]
likely going to sell it for a profit
[333]
they don't sell the plans themselves
[335]
they're not affiliated with medicare
[336]
they're at least gonna have to pass that
[338]
on to an insurance company and at that
[340]
point you're just giving your
[342]
information to multiple organizations
[345]
it's not great at best you're probably
[349]
going to get a lot of annoying calls at
[351]
worst it could result in you being
[353]
scammed it's very important to be
[356]
careful with where you put your
[357]
information online and i cannot stress
[359]
that enough but it's not just online
[362]
that you have to be careful either you
[364]
also have to be wary of in-person
[366]
advisors with an agenda be especially
[368]
careful about people who approach you
[370]
without you asking or who push
[372]
particular plans or who set up booths in
[375]
grocery stores i seem to be seeing that
[376]
a lot lately
[378]
these so-called advisors can have a
[380]
conflict of interest we've got one who
[382]
lurks around our local food bank he's
[384]
what's known as a captive agent because
[386]
he only works with one insurer in this
[388]
case it's united healthcare he does not
[391]
make a commission on any other plans so
[394]
he steers everyone toward the united
[396]
healthcare plan even if it's not in
[398]
their best interests so you want to make
[401]
sure
[402]
that you understand if you're working
[404]
with someone who has a financial
[405]
interest in getting you signed up
[407]
because they have a conflict of interest
[409]
and you want to make sure that you are
[412]
taking care of yourself
[414]
and that you are working with someone
[416]
who can offer you a wide array of plans
[418]
and not just steer you to the one that's
[420]
going to result in a profit for them
[422]
in my experience the best way to find a
[426]
trustworthy medicare counselor is to
[428]
reach out to your local area agency on
[430]
aging you guys know i love these because
[432]
we've done tons of videos about these
[434]
agencies
[435]
most states have a health insurance
[437]
counseling and advocacy program that can
[439]
assist you in navigating these complex
[441]
benefits you can also contact medicare
[444]
directly via 1-800 medicare or by online
[447]
chat at medicare.gov
[449]
thanks for watching i hope this video
[451]
was helpful to you don't forget to
[453]
subscribe to our channel for more ways
[455]
to save money and get free stuff
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage