Smishing

 Smishing, a new form of phishing:

Text:

You failed to pay a toll charge on the Interstate Freeway. Please pay $8.50 on the link below within three days.

E-mail:

You failed to pay a parking ticket from the 1st of February. To avoid having your car towed please pay $15 at the linked below within 48 hours.

Except:

You were not on the freeway and you never received a traffic ticket.

DELETE! 

This blog is for consumer information only, and is not an attempt to provide accounting, tax, insurance, investment or medical advice.

Professional advice should be obtained from qualified/certified/licensed professionals.

Disclaimer

 This blog is for consumer information only, and is not an attempt to provide accounting, tax, insurance, investment or medical advice.

Professional advice should be obtained from qualified/certified/licensed professionals.

Work the Phones, Work the Internet

 

How to get the Covid vaccine?

Work the phones, work the Internet if you are able.

Watch local media and make notes on vaccine sites and schedules.

Call the county health department (they may have a special line).

Call your pharmacy. Regularly.

Be polite and persistent.

Deferred Health Care

 

Due to the pandemic many Americans, and especially many seniors, are delaying and deferring diagnostic and preventative health care.

There is natural concern about walking into a health care setting.

There is very little indication that using routine health care services is a risk for contracting Coronavirus.

Talk to your physician or the office staff about the safety versus risk of routine health care services.

cross posted: healthcarethinktank@blogspot.com

Medicare Danger and Trumpcare Farce

 

Lots of private companies use "Medicare" in their names and websites.

These companies have nothing to do with Medicare other than possibly supplemental insurance for Medicare recipients. Be very careful with any communications you have with them. Better to go through a live insurance agent in your community, or an association or fraternal group with very clean reputations.

As to "Trumpcare," it does not exist, it is a marketing gimmick. Be very careful with private insurance plans.

And as always, do not give information over the phone to cold callers. Ask for their name, hang up, and do some research.

protectingseniorcitizens@gmail.com

Disaster in the Making - Pharmacy via United States Postal Service

 

As the Trump administration has now admitted to sabotaging the postal service in the run up to the election, many seniors may find their pharmacy-by-mail is no longer reliable or timely.

It is critical to find alternatives just in case, and to understand that you may pay more for your prescriptions.

Veterans who receive prescriptions via mail should anticipate problems and look for alternate sources.

 

Back Up Everything

We live in a world of files.

Paper files and digital file. Documents and photos.

Lots of things can destroy our files - fire, flood, wind, power surges, theft - all of these can destroy our files.

Fortunately there are lots of ways to back up our files - copiers, scanners, digital copies, safe deposit boxes, home vaults - all of these can back up critical files.

So the key is good habits and the effort to back up the files.

We can buy a home printer/scanner/copier for under $100. For bulk copying there are office supply stores.

For really critical documents, email it to yourself as an attachment, or take a photo with your camera and email it to yourself.

Always back up your files!