8 Scams That Senior Medicare Patrols Are Seeing

3. Flimsy medical equipment

This is a long-standing Medicare problem.

Con artists offer you a knee brace or other medical equipment if you give them your Medicare number. You’ll get a cheap brace in the mail that you could have purchased at a drugstore, or you might receive no brace at all.

The criminals charge Medicare for an expensive brace and make other unauthorized charges with your number. In a May 2024 report, the HHS Office of Inspector General found that from 2014 to 2020, orthotic braces were consistently among the top 20 durable medical equipment items with the highest improper payment rates.

4. Bogus genetic testing

Even though the Senior Medicare Patrol helped uncover a $2.1 billion genetic testing scam, phony pitches are still an issue.

Someone at a health fair might offer to swab your cheek and test the sample to determine whether you have a genetic propensity for cancer. You need to give your Medicare number to cover the test, the con artist says.

In reality, Medicare rarely covers genetic testing. Scammers use the ploy to get your Medicare number and make all sorts of fraudulent charges in your name.

“Many times, they would not get the test [results] at all,” Maria Alvarez, executive director of New York Statewide Senior Action Council, says of Medicare beneficiaries. The nonprofit runs New York’s Senior Medicare Patrol program. “They [the scammers] would just discard the swabs and use the Medicare number.”

5. Hospice fraud

Much like a 2021 California case, scammers enroll people who aren’t terminally ill in hospice without their knowledge. The Medicare beneficiaries may believe they are signing up for extra benefits programs, such as home cleaning, in-home nurse visits or a shower chair.

“They have a doctor that works with them and is ‘diagnosing people’ and sending paperwork to Medicare and claiming thousands of dollars that Medicare pays for in hospice,” says Carolina Oehler, the Senior Medicare Patrol liaison for the Kern County Aging & Adult Services Department in California.

The criminals receive payment from Medicare for hospice services never delivered. The Medicare beneficiary has legitimate nonhospice claims denied.

6. Medicaid ‘unwinding’

During the COVID public health emergency, beneficiaries of Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance for low-income Americans, didn’t need to recertify eligibility based on their income. Starting on April 1, 2023, states were able to terminate coverage for individuals who were no longer eligible for Medicaid, and the states had up to 12 months to return to normal eligibility and enrollment procedures. That upheaval has been a boon for scam artists.

“Scammers are using that as a way to get to people,” Kinney says. “We’ve heard cases of scammers calling Medicaid beneficiaries and telling them they need to pay them, so they don’t lose Medicaid. Or they’re using it to get [beneficiaries’] personal information.”

7. Next-generation Medicare cards

Medicare saw a big increase in card scams in 2018 when the government sent every beneficiary new cards that didn’t include Social Security numbers. The scam resurfaced in 2023, when Senior Medicare Patrol volunteers started to hear more complaints from Medicare beneficiaries who were approached about fraudulent cards.

“We had an influx of people reporting to the SMP volunteers that they were receiving unsolicited calls from people who were falsely claiming to be a Medicare representative and offering a new card, maybe a plastic card with a chip,” Erhard says.

The scammers ask for money for the new card or ask for your Medicare number. Medicare won’t call you to offer a new card; its cards are paper stock, and you can print an official card from your online Medicare account anytime.

Medicare won’t ever call you without scheduling an appointment ahead of time.

8. Telemedicine sessions 

“You may get a call from somebody who is trying to sell you something, and then you’ll get billed for a telehealth consult,” says Jean Stone, a 40-year Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services employee who in retirement is a New York Senior Medicare Patrol volunteer.

Sometimes the fraud is tied to fake genetic testing or flimsy medical equipment, and the criminals will add a telemedicine appointment to the Medicare bill. Check your Medicare summary notice for suspicious telemedicine charges.

If you find a suspicious charge on your notice or receive a call from someone claiming to be from Medicare, you can report the suspected fraud to Medicare or call 800-633-4227. You can also contact your state’s Senior Medicare Patrol or call 877-808-2468. SMP volunteers can answer questions about potential scams and help you report the fraud to Medicare and the HHS Office of the Inspector General, which investigates Medicare fraud.