Medicare officials are mounting an effort to prevent Medicare beneficiaries from enrolling in new health insurance exchanges, Kaiser Health News reports. Michele Patrick, Medicare's deputy director for communications, said that the intent of this push was "to reassure Medicare beneficiaries that they are already covered, their benefits are not changing and the marketplace doesn't require them to do anything." Enrollment in the exchanges will begin on Oct. 1 and run for six months, whereas Medicare beneficiaries will have a two-month signup period for private health plans two weeks later. Officials have expressed concern that this may create potential for confusion and for seniors to be exploited. For example, the Colorado Attorney General's office sent out an alert in May warning of a phishing scam relating to a "National Insurance Card" after Denver's AARP office received multiple calls on the subject. Article