Before you wax your skis, brush up on winter activities and your insurance

Snow is starting to fall in Washington state's mountains and in some lower elevations. Before you hit the slopes or backcountry, take a moment to consider insurance implications for winter recreation. 

Snoeshowing at Lake Wenatchee Sno-Park,
courtesy Washington State Parks

Ski and snowboard equipment

Winter sports gear is not cheap, and replacing it in the event of damage or theft can put a crimp in your winter fun. 

Generally, equipment you own will be covered up to a specific amount by your homeowner or renter policy. Check the limit in your policy and decide if that will be enough to replace damaged or stolen equipment. Remember to factor in your deductible. 

If you think you need more coverage, ask your insurance agent about a rider that might allow you to increase coverage (and your premium) for specified personal property.

Snowmobiles

Snowmobiles may be covered under homeowner policies when they are used for maintenance of your insured property. They likely aren’t covered by a renter or auto insurance policy. If you want to be covered, talk to your insurance agent about a snowmobile policy. If you take your snowmobile off your property, carry proof of insurance.

If you are traveling and plan to rent a snowmobile, you may consider rental insurance to cover damage to the snowmobile. Your home or renter insurance might provide coverage for your personal liability while operating a rental snowmobile. Read the contract carefully before signing and ask questions of the agent selling you the coverage if you don’t understand the limits or conditions of coverage.

Travel insurance

Traveling in the winter can be full of surprises. Even if you’re traveling somewhere warm, bad weather en route to your destination can cause delays or cancellations. Travel sites and airlines offer travel insurance when you book your trip. Travel insurance can cover everything from lost luggage to delays and cancellations, but make sure you closely read any policy you consider. Learn more about travel insurance.

Health insurance

If you are out of town without access to your physician or local health care center, review your emergency medical treatment requirements:

• Are you required to seek medical treatment at a certain hospital or urgent care center that is in your insurer’s network?
• Will you have a copay?
• If you need to fill a prescription, do you have to go to a certain pharmacy?
• If you are traveling in an area that is out of your network, what is the insurer’s requirements for reimbursing your expenses? 

Make a list of these details and carry your insurance card with you when you travel.

Questions? You can contact our consumer advocates online or at 1-800-562-6900.

Tips For Refinancing Our Home Loans

Home loans... this is a major part for a property owner in Singapore. If you had bought a private property, you can only take a bank loan whereas for a HDB property, we can choose between a bank loan or a loan from HDB. 

Bank loans are structured in a way where if we do not refinance regularly, we will lose out on a lot of cost savings and end up paying more for our housing loan instalment. Many banks do not reveal that to you. It is like credit cards where they give you waiver of annual fees for first few years and start charging you later if you do not realise it. Some are smart enough to call in and cancel the card or request the fees to be waived. Others will end up paying the extra fees unknowingly.

How does bank loan work? 

For every loan package, there is a spread applied to the interest rate. If it is a sibor package, it will be something like "sibor + 0.8%". I've talked to many people before and some don't realise the rate that they are paying now is just temporary. Most of the time, after a few years (likely 2-3 years), the spread will increase. Instead of  0.8%, the spread increases to 1.2%. Some can even increase as much as 1% which is a significant amount on our loan installment. It will be a shock when we realise we have to pay a few hundred or thousands more per month later. 

Here are some tips on refinancing and when we should do it:

You should refinance as early as 6 months before lock in expires

Refinancing should not be done only when we see an increase in our loan instalment after the spread increases. We should refinance and get a better package even before our lock in expires. Yes this can be done and it can be done as early as 6 months before. 

The reason to refinance before lock in expires is simple. The minimum notice period for refinancing is 3 months which means if we only refinance after our lock in period expires, where the loan instalment will be higher, we will be stuck with the high interest rates for at least 3 months. 3 months can be a few thousand dollars paid in extra by then. 

The different variable rates to choose from

For loan packages, there are both fixed and variable rates. For variable rates, there are different options to choose from again. This is the confusing part for many people and sometimes I have to explain for quite awhile before people can understand the options available. 

For variable rates, there are mainly 3 types:

1. Bank's board rate
2. Sibor/SOR rate
3. Fixed deposit mortgage rate

As mentioned earlier, for home loans, there is a spread. For variable rates, it will be pegged to either one of the above variable factors. Thus, it can be either "board rate + 0.8%" or "sibor + 0.8%" or "fixed deposit mortgage rate + 0.8%". 

For bank's board rate, this is the most NOT transparent among the 3 types. The bank can change the rate as and when they want and then tell you your loan instalment will be higher the next month. There is no way we can check or see the rate for this. 

For sibor/sor rates, it is transparent and all banks follow the same rate. However, the rate can change quite a lot base on historical figures. It was as high as 8% in 1987, 7%+ in 1998 and almost 4% in 2007. Every financial crisis causes the sibor to fluctuate quite badly. 

For the fixed deposit mortgage rate, this is a relatively new type as compared to the bank's board rate or sibor/sor rate. This is also a transparent rate as it is pegged to the fixed deposit rate and we can see the rate published on the website of that particular bank. Many people are sometimes confused that this is a fixed rate. It is not a fixed rate. This rate is also less volatile as compared to the sibor based on historical figures. In any case, increasing the fixed deposit rate does not benefit the bank as it is also a cost to them.

Fixed rates only for short period of time

If your loan is on fixed rates, do not believe that your rate is fixed forever. There is no such thing as a long term fixed rate which means if you want fixed rates for longer term, you should refinance regularly. Most fixed rates are for 2-3 years with some extending to 5 years but that's about it so far from what I have seen among all the banks in Singapore. 

Once your fixed rate ends, it will revert to a variable rate so it is better to refinance to get fixed rates again. 

Should I switch from HDB loan to bank loan?

So far, we have discussed mostly on bank loans. If you're on HDB loan, the interest is 2.6% whereas if we switch to bank loans currently, it can be as low as 1%. However, switching to bank loans will have a huge consequence. The main issue is we would not be able to switch back to HDB loan once we go over to bank loans. 

HDB loans, although it is higher at 2.6%, but it is liken to a long term fixed rate as the rate has not changed for a long time. If we want more stability, we should stay on HDB loan.

However, if our loan is left about 5-10 years, we can consider switching to bank loan to take advantage of lower interest rates and not worry too much since the loan is going to end soon. 

What are the fees for refinancing?

Refinancing is not free. There are fees involved which we should take note of. However, if our loan amount is high, the banks will always give cash rebates or subsidies to cover most of the fees. 

The fees for refinancing are as follow:

1. Valuation fees
2. Legal fees
3. Mortgage stamp duty 

In most cases, cash rebates and subsidies can cover most of the cost which means we only need to pay less than a few hundred. Do note that all fees can be paid by CPF so no cash is needed as long as we have enough in our CPF Ordinary account. 

Where to get the best loan package for refinancing?

If you would like to find out more about refinancing and get the best rate for your home loan, fill in this form below and I'll get back to you on the best rate:

• Refinance Enquires

I will also be giving out vouchers as below for every confirmed case:

Loan amount $200K-$300K: 

$20 CapitaLand or NTUC Vouchers

Loan Amount $300K-$500K: 

$40 CapitaLand or NTUC Vouchers

Loan Amount $500K-$800K: 

$60 CapitaLand or NTUC Vouchers

Loan Amount above $800K: 

$80 CapitaLand or NTUC Vouchers

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What's an umbrella policy?

Commissioner Kreidler recently participated in a Facebook live Q&A with KIRO TV reporter Jesse Jones, where viewers submitted their insurance questions. Jesse and Commissioner Kreidler got lots of great questions, including a couple about umbrella policies.

Umbrella policy is one of those insurance terms that a lot of people have heard but many aren’t quite sure what it means. Simply put, an umbrella policy extends your liability coverage beyond what is covered by your homeowner and auto policies. Umbrella policies pay only after you exhaust the liability limit of your homeowner or auto policies, which are referred to as underlying policies.

Here’s an example: Your dog bites a visitor in your home. The visitor sues you for damages and wins a $1 million award against you. Your homeowner’s insurance policy will only pay up to the $300,000 liability coverage limit listed in your home policy. If you have a $1 million umbrella policy, it will pay the remaining $700,000, minus any deductible. According to the Insurance Information Institute, a $1 million umbrella policy costs $150-$300 per year – that’s about $13 to $25 per month in premiums.

If you are interested in buying an umbrella policy, you should contact your insurance agent or company.

Questions? You can contact our consumer advocates online or at 1-800-562-6900.

How you can save 24% of your tax, legally!

Source: CPF's website

- Written By Byte Sized Investment

Slightly more than half the year has gone and it is about time to review my annual financial plan. This is usually the time to consider budgets, cashflow and some tax planning for the remaining months of the year.

So recently, I made a trip to CPF office to find out more details on how I could enjoy some tax relief, and at the same time, boost my retirement funds.

Before we proceed, let’s take a quick look at what CPF actually is.

What is CPF?

Central Provident Fund, CPF in short, is a compulsory savings plan for working Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PR), primarily to fund their retirement. It could also be used for healthcare, education, and housing needs. Both employers and employees contribute a mandated amount to the employee’s CPF retirement fund, where it grows and earns interest between 2.5% to 5%.

#For CPF members above age 55, they can earn up to 6% per annum on their retirement balances! You can find out more on the interest rates here.

The 4 CPF accounts are as follows:

1. Ordinary Account (OA) – for housing, pay for CPF insurance, investment and education.

2. Special Account (SA) – for old age and investment in retirement-related financial products. Interest for CPF SA  4-5% per annum.

3. Medisave Account (MA) – for hospitalisation and approved medical insurance.

4. Retirement Account (RA) – created when one turns 55 using the savings in OA and SA. It is set up to meet basic needs during old age.

#The Special, Medisave and Retirement Account are simplified to be known as SMRA.

What does the government do with the money?

CPF monies are invested in Special Singapore Government Securities (SSGS) that are issued and guaranteed by the Singapore Government through Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The proceeds from the SSGS, owned by MAS, are then managed by the fund manager: Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, more commonly known as GIC. GIC invest the proceeds on behalf of MAS. With the returns from investment, MAS pays the interest on the SSGS to CPF board.

Tax Relief

One can reduce up to $14,000 of his taxable income if he were to do a $7,000 cash top up into his CPF SA and another $7,000 combined to his loved ones’ CPF SA (parents and spouse). This means it reduces his taxable income by $14,000. Let’s put some context to these numbers.

According to data provided by Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the median gross monthly income is at S$3,949, and including 13th month bonus, this translates to S$51,337 annually. This is the amount that our example 28-years old Joe is earning a year in the private sector.

Joe would receive a total of $1,000 and $10,258 of tax relief from earned income* and CPF contributions** (to know more about how to reduce your tax, visit IRAS deductions for individuals here, click here to calculate CPF Contributions). His taxable income would be $40,079, and he would pay taxes of $555.53 for the assessment year of 2017.

However, should Joe choose to transfer $7,000 cash into his CPF SA, he will reduce his taxable income by $7,000, to $33,079 instead of $40,079. Joe would then instead pay $307.77 in taxes. This is a 65% decrease in taxes paid.

If Joe does another cash transfer of $7,000 to his wife and/or parents, he will further reduce the chargeable income by another $7,000, to $26,079. He will pay $121.58 in tax. That’s a 78% tax savings!

Of course, for someone who earns the median income of $51,000 a year, to have up to $7,000 transferred into CPF SA would leave Joe cash-poor as he has to juggle the remaining $34,079 (~$2,800/month), net of CPF contributions, to settle housing and car loans, insurance, food, utility, entertainment, living expenses etc. The $7,000 top up into CPF SA can only be drawn after age 55. For a breadwinner like Joe, cashflow might be a challenge. The savings on tax might not outweigh the need for cash, especially during emergencies.

Let’s explore the effects on Jack, similarly 28 years of age, who earns an average income of $6,000 a month. Working in the private sector, let’s assume Jack’s annual salary package including the 13th month would be $78,000.

Jack would receive a total reduction of $1,000 and $15,600 from his taxable income due to earned income and CPF contributions. His taxable income would be $61,400, and he would pay taxes of $2,048 for the assessment year of 2017. But Jack being financially savvier, planned his cashflow and finances well, and he can afford to transfer $7,000 cash into his CPF SA, lowering his chargeable income to $54,400 instead. Thus Jack pays $1,558 in taxes, a saving of almost $500 or 24% in tax!

Comparing the opportunity costs

Putting $7,000 into his CPF SA would leave him with around $62,400 annually ($5,200/month) after deduction from the CPF contributions for his living expenses. If Jack’s annual expenses are below $62,400, whatever income left sits in the bank earning a measly 0.05% interest. At the same time, Jack has to pay the additional $500 in tax. On the flip side, if he does this CPF cash top up, he would not only save $500, his cash top up in CPF would earn him an additional 4% interest, or $280 the next year. That is a $780 opportunity cost, 11% of $7,000!

Hence, if the $7,000 cash top up does not put too much strain on Jack’s cashflow and finances, doing this top up seems worthwhile.

This tax savings is significant.

At age 28, Jack will continue to work at least another 34 years till he reaches the official retirement age at 62. Assume his pay stays stagnant, the tax savings of $500 a year would result in $17,000 after 34 years!

As our tax is progressive, where the low income earners pay as little as 2% to no tax and the high income earners pay up to 22% to the government in tax, a person who climbs the corporate ladder would have increasing income, thereby incurring a higher proportion of tax compared to when he was much younger. In some cases, I estimated that the tax savings could be up to $21,000 in 34 years.

Anyway, this notion isn’t new, a famous blogger (AK71), who earns more than $165,000 from dividends a year, had been advocating it a long time.

Well, if you think a 24% or a $17,000 tax savings is little, wait till you see how much returns you could gain over the years with the additional $7,000 cash contributions you made.

*Deduction from Earned Income. Earned Income refers to the taxable earned income from employment, pension, trade, business, profession or vocation less allowable expenses. The amount of relief is based on your age and taxable earned income in the assessment year. For non-handicapped employees below age 55, the deduction of taxable income is up to $1,000. For more information, click here.

 **Deduction from CPF Contribution. Your portion (not the employer’s) of mandatory CPF contributions counts towards a reduction in taxable income.For every $1 you contribute to CPF, your taxable income is reduced by $1. For more information on the CPF contribution relief click here. To calculate how much CPF you will be contributing, click here.

References:

1. Deductions for Individuals (Reliefs, Expenses, Donations)
2. CPF Contribution and Allocation Rates
3. What is Ordinary Wage and Additional Wage Ceilings for CPF
4. CPF Contribution Calculator
5. Personal Relief Eligibility Tool [.xls]
6. Tax Calculator
7. Personal Income Tax calculator for YA2017 (Resident) [.xls]

This is a Guest Post by Byte Sized Investment

Is A Degree or Diploma Necessary?

There have been a lot of articles lately on the mainstream media which talks about private degrees and local degrees etc.  In the year 2000, only 26% of Singaporean residents between the ages of 25 and 34 are graduates. Now, more than 50% are graduates. However, the problem is not all 50% jobs in the market are for PMETs, which means many are doing a lower skillset job than what they possess. There is another bigger problem with pursuing a diploma or degree. The problem is the world is moving too fast and the skills you learn in your 3-4 years course may become outdated too quickly.

Before we carry on further in this article, I have to clarify that I am not against getting a degree or diploma. In fact, it is a necessary certification to get our first job. What is important is we pick the right courses to study which will ensure the maximum return we have on that certificate which we spend a lot of time and money to obtain.

I was in a dialogue session with Minister Chan Chun Sing who was speaking on what the Committee of Future Economy (CFE) is doing. The CFE aims to keep the Singapore economy competitive by helping to position Singapore for the future, as well as identify areas of growth with regard to regional and global developments. One key message I got from the session was that many jobs will become redundant in time but that many new jobs will be created also. The global economy is shifting to a new phase which we, as a small country in Singapore, have to change too in order to stay competitive.

In any case, many jobs will be lost regardless if you have a Degree, Diploma or Masters. If you're in the wrong industry, there is a possibility that you will lose your job. In this article, I will explore what are the jobs which will possibly be lost and what are the new jobs which will be in demand. Hopefully this will help us to position ourselves better for our career as well as make better decisions in our education choices.


The Singapore Economy

To understand why some jobs will be lost, let's take a look at how the Singapore economy has progressed and changed over the years. The following information is reference from the Economic Development Board (EDB) Singapore:

1960s

In the 1960s there were a few developments which marked the start of Singapore’s industrialisation programme that began with factories producing garments, textiles, toys, wood products and hair wigs. Along with these labour-intensive industries were capital and technology-intensive projects from companies such as Shell Eastern Petroleum and the National Iron and Steel Mills.

1970s

Singapore's manufacturing industry evolved to become more sophisticated and included computer parts, peripherals, software packages and silicon wafers. Manufacturing eventually became the largest sector in the economy surpassing trade.

1980s

The 1980s was the start of the movement away from labour-intensive industries and the attraction to high-technology industries

1990s

EDB shifted its focus from manufacturing to strengthen the new key industries, namely chemicals, electronics and engineering. It also began leveraging its leadership in these industries to develop biomedical sciences; an area that included the pharmaceutical biotechnology and medical technology sectors

2000s

Most of the R&D activity were focused on environmental and water technology, biomedical sciences and interactive and digital media.

When will I become obsolete?

In this era where advancement is moving faster as compared to the past, jobs are becoming obsolete sooner than we think. In the past, jobs may last 10-20 years but now, today's job may be gone tomorrow. I still remembered a few years back when I was still in the army, the first 3G smart phone came out which was from Apple. The first ever iPhone was launched. Moving forward, every year there were new models and the technologies evolved as well. From 3G to 4G and even 5G in the future. Mobile data speed got faster and faster every year.

With technological advancement, many industries will be affected which will cause jobs to be lost. We are already seeing it happening now. The question to ask ourselves will be "when will I become obsolete?" Will my job last for the next few years?

Jobs which will be lost

If you realised, Singapore has transformed rapidly especially in the past 2 years only. Let me bring things into perspective:

• Traditional taxi business has been disrupted. Now we have Uber and Grab
• Credit cards can be paid wirelessly through paywave or paypass and can even be sync with a mobile phone for use on Apply, Andriod or Samsung pay
• We can use our mobile phone to pay for bus and MRT rides instead of using Ez-link cards only
• Self-payment machines are everywhere in Singapore including supermarkets, Macdonalds and Polyclinics/Hospitals
• Macdonald has self-ordering system which eliminates the number of cashiers at counters
• Self-driving cars, taxis and buses will become a reality in the next few years
• Buying groceries online and getting it delivered to your house is becoming more common
• Booking of apartments through Airbnb is an alternative to hotel stays
• Food delivery such as food panda and Deliveroo is seen everywhere on the street
• Buying a property without property agent is easier now with websites such as property guru and OhMyHome App
• Food Vending machine cafe which opened in Sengkang

From the above list, there are going to be various jobs which will be lost. Property/Insurance agents, taxi drivers, retail assistants/cashiers will be greatly affected. Lesser manpower will be needed to perform the same function which machines can take over. This is happening now and it’s happening fast.

In our connected world, anybody can take over our jobs in another part of the world as long as it can go through the wire. This was what Minister Chan said. When asking ourselves "When will I become obsolete?" we should see whether our jobs can be done elsewhere in the world. For example, for website programmers/designers, if a designer or programmer in India can do the job, it would be a great risk. We are not just competing nationally but on a global basis. 

Jobs which will be in demand

Although some jobs will be lost, there will be new jobs created too. Industries such as healthcare will be in demand due to ageing population in Singapore. It is expected that by 2021, the local manpower will start to fall which means more people will be older and retired. Other industries such as IT/engineering, data/eCommerce and logistics will also be in demand.

With IT and wireless communications depended heavily in the future, more professionals will be needed in these areas. Infocomm and cyber security skills will definitely be in demand.

Is pursuing diploma or degree necessary?

Now, let's get back to the question of whether a diploma or degree is necessary? A degree and diploma is still important but it is also important to consider the career prospect of that education path. The skills which are learnt in the course should be relevant to the industry too.

If we are unsure whether we want to study that course, we can actually take modular courses first or take up professional certificates to get ourselves certified. For example, for data analysis, we can take up SPSS or Big Data courses or for project management we can take up PMP courses. Thereafter we still can take up the relevant diploma or degree to further deepen our skills and competencies.

The world is changing and in order to remain relevant, we need to re-skill or up-skill and even consider changing industries. The CFE will wrap up its findings by Q1 next year and propose to the government recommendations in order to keep Singapore's economy competitive. We should expect some changes and restructuring thereafter.

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The New Phillip SGX APAC Dividend Leaders REIT ETF

Word has spread around of a new REIT ETF which has been launched for IPO just last week and closed on 13th October 2016. The ETF will begin trading in the market this Thursday 20th October 2016.

REIT has been an all time favourite for Singaporeans as it provides higher than average dividends which is quite a good dividend income for many people. With the new REIT ETF, it will be easier to diversify between different stocks instead of being concentrated with just a few REITs in our portfolio.

Phillip Capital invited some bloggers for a dinner and Q&A session on this new REIT ETF just last week. I was there as well to find out more information on this interesting development in Singapore. As we know, investing in funds, such as unit trusts, have high costs that comes with it. However, for ETFs, the cost is relatively lower which makes a difference in our investment returns.

Understanding more on the Phillip SGX APAC Dividend Leaders REIT ETF

Let me list down some of the details as well as the pros and cons of this REIT:

REIT ETF focuses on Australian properties

The first thing that caught my attention for the REIT ETF is the concentration of properties in Australia. 59% of this REIT index consists of Australian properties with 30% in Singapore and 11% in Hong Kong.

Here are the constituents of the index:

Source: http://phillipfunds.com/uploads/funds_file/Phillip_SGX_APAC_Dividend_Leaders_REIT_ETF_Prospectus.pdf

As we can see, the REIT index consists of 30 stocks with the focus on Australian stocks.

Pros of investing in the REIT ETF

I asked the Managing Director of Philip Capital why the choice to put more emphasis on Australian REITs and he gave some reasons for it which I will share below.

Here are the reasons:

1. Australia Economy has not seen a recession for the past 25 years
2. Australia shopping malls are crowded with good occupancy rates
3. Gearing ratio is low at 30% or less
4. Rental reversion is positive
5. AUD currency has gone down and is somewhat at the bottom now
6. Strong GDP growth of average 3%
7. High productivity growth in the country

Those are the reasons I manage to capture at the dinner session. I was actually surprised to know that Australia did not have a recession for the past 25 years and their GDP growth is higher than many developed countries, including US and Singapore, with strong productivity growth.

Back home in Singapore, we are struggling with weak GDP growth, low productivity rates and weak retail outlook which the government is trying very hard to improve productivity here. In economics, productivity growth tends to increase the salary of workers which increases consumer spending and results in stronger economic growth. This is the reason why productivity growth is so important for a country to do well. 

Back to the REIT ETF, it is interesting to note that back testing was done for the REIT ETF and the annual compounded return was 13% for the past 5 years. The average dividend yield for the REIT is about 4.5% currently. 

So far, we have seen a lot of pros in investing in the REIT. How about the cons? 

Cons of investing in the REIT ETF

In every investment, there will be risk which we need to take note of. Here are some which I can think of:

1. Focusing on overseas stocks will increase Forex risks
2. 4.5% dividend doesn't seem too attractive for a REIT investor
3. Concentration in one country adds in some risks if Australia economy doesn't do well
4. We have no control over rights issue of any REITs in the component of the ETF

The risks are mainly due to the exposure to overseas stocks but if all is well and the AUD goes up plus the economy continues to do well, it will definitely benefit investors who invest in this REIT ETF. 

To me, this is a medium risk investment which beginner investor should not invest in unless they fully know what it is about. For seasoned investors, this may be an alternative investment fund to get exposure to the Australia market. What do you think of this new REIT ETF?

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Fight health care fraud: guard your Medicare number!

Medicare open enrollment is here (October 15 to December 7), which means fraudsters and identity thieves will increase their efforts to get and abuse Medicare numbers from people.

Fortunately, there are many measures you can take to fight health care fraud:

• Guard your Medicare number. Protect it the same way you do for your credit card numbers. Medicare will never contact you for your Medicare number or other personal information. Don’t share your Medicare number or other personal information with anyone who contacts you by phone, email, or by approaching you in person, unless you’ve given them permission in advance. 
• Don’t ever let anyone borrow or pay to use your Medicare number.
• If you’re looking to enroll in a Medicare plan, be suspicious of anyone who pressures you to act now for the best deal. There are no “early bird discounts” or “limited time offers.” Any offer that sounds too good to be true probably is.
• Be skeptical of offers for free gifts and free medical services. A common ploy of identity thieves is to say they can send you your free gift right away—they just need your Medicare number to confirm. Decline politely but firmly. 
• Do your part to protect your friends and neighbors: remind them to guard their Medicare numbers, too.
• Check your Medicare Summary Notice (MSN)–which gives you information on services submitted under your Medicare number–to make sure you and Medicare are only being charged for services you actually received. While the MSN is only mailed to you every 3 months, you can access your Original Medicare claims at any time on MyMedicare.gov. You’ll usually be able to see a claim within 24 hours after Medicare processes it.

You can report suspected fraud by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).

TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048. 

To learn more about how to protect yourself from health care fraud, visit Medicare.gov/fraud, or contact our state’s local Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP), which is the OIC's Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors (SHIBA) program.