Suzanne Potter, producer/reporter, California News Service, a bureau of Public News Service.
Scams involving false claims for medical equipment are spreading across California, according to experts in Medicare fraud.
Sometimes scammers offer free equipment in exchange for your Medicare number, even if you do not need it. They bill Medicare and potentially get paid.
Carolina Oehler, program specialist for the Kern County Department of Aging and Adult Services, said it not only drains money from the Medicare program, people can be denied the equipment in the future.
“When they actually need the device and the doctor orders it, the supplier is going to try to bill Medicare,” Oehler explained. “Medicare is going to deny the claim, because there’s already a claim for the same thing that was billed.”
Sometimes the scammer will call or send a postcard or flyer offering incentives such as free cleaning, cooking, protein milkshakes, medical equipment, transportation or anything to get people to give up their Medicare number. Some even set up storefronts and pay doctors kickbacks to fabricate orders for medical equipment.
Oehler noted some people have received multiple boxes of braces they never requested, out of the blue.
“You should send the box back, contact your doctor to ask them if they prescribed the item and then contact Medicare to make sure that claims were not submitted for items that were not ordered by your doctor,” Oehler outlined.
Medicare can then flag the claim for fraud and remove it from your record. Help for this sort of issue is available via the Senior Medicare Patrol on the website of the nonprofit California Health Advocates, or you can call 1-800-Medicare.
