One minute last December Leslie Montgomery was a medieval warlord pillaging a nearby kingdom. The next she was a retiree drowning in a flood of confusing Medicare sales calls.
The 75-year-old had been deeply immersed in her favorite free online game when a banner ad appeared warning her that she might be missing out on money from the federal government. She clicked, and within minutes, she received an avalanche of calls with health insurance quotes she had never requested.
A batch of federal regulations issued this year aim to protect consumers like Montgomery. Following a sharp rise in complaints of misleading marketing of private Medicare plans and a damning report by Senate Democrats, the Biden administration finalized new rules to rein in deceptive Medicare marketing tactics.
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