Senior News Line: Stopping Medicare fraud

Medicare fraud is one of the big scams that thieves love. Approximately $60 billion per year is stolen from taxpayers through Medicare theft and fraud. Your job is to be the intermediary and foil their attempts.

Here’s how:

• Treat your Medicare number as though it’s as valuable as a credit card or access to your checking account. Don’t give the number to anyone but your doctor’s office.

• If anyone calls asking for your Medicare card number, hang up. If you receive a text message asking for the number, delete it.

• When you get a Medicare summary statement, go over it line by line to be sure that you actually received every service.

It’s true that now and then a service listed on your statement is genuine, even if it doesn’t seem to be. It’s possible that a coding error in the doctor’s office was wrong.

Get to the bottom of it by calling them and asking for the billing department to pull your file and determine whether the Medicare statement is correct or not. Ask specific questions about tests and lab work, as these are sometimes lumped together.

Sometimes, if the scammers do contact you, they’ll try to get you to accept delivery of a medical device that you don’t actually need in exchange for giving them your Medicare number. Don’t do it.

Occasionally, too, you might be contacted with an offer to “review” your medical records to see if you need any additional services or devices or if you “need” genetic testing. Don’t do it. What the scammers are looking for is your personal information and that Medicare number.

Remember: Medicare isn’t going to call you or send text messages or show up at your door.

If you think someone is trying to commit Medicare fraud, report it. Call 800-MEDICARE, or 800-633-4227.