According to the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, con artists reap tens of billions of dollars each year through health care fraud. Many of these incidents can be traced back to Medicare. With its requirements to pay claims quickly, there often isn’t enough time to trace and verify each claim to be certain it is legitimate.
One recent scam has cost the system over 1.2 billion already. The operation is simple, and takes advantage of both Medicare recipients and Medicare itself.
Callers target those with Medicare, offering them orthopedic braces for neck, back, shoulder, or wrist problems. The interested parties are then forwarded to another call center to have their Medicare benefits verified, and then a doctor prescribes the brace over the phone. Some doctors might even prescribe multiple braces per patient.
The call centers are essentially collecting potential “cases”, selling them to telemedicine companies, and then the telemedicine companies bill Medicare for the prescription.
Unfortunately, the fraudulent companies recently indicted for this scam were submitting false claims to Medicare, exploiting patients, and then laundering the money overseas. And this is only one such scheme; many others are likely still operating today.
How can you become aware of health care scams?
- Be suspicious of “free” offers – especially when someone calls you to offer something you never inquired about.
- Cash payments or gifts, in return for receiving some type of health care, are almost always signs of a scam.
- Medicare will never send representatives to your home.
- Examine your Medicare statements. If you see something unfamiliar, call to report that you might have been billed for a service you did not receive.
- Guard your card. If anyone gets ahold of it, they can use it to commit fraud.
Even with Medicare, health care can be expensive in retirement. Be on guard against fraudulent activity, and schedule a meeting with us if your budget should be adjusted to accommodate health care expenditures.
