posted on March 2, 2026
Senior Medicare Patrol
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Protecting Yourself from Pharmacy & Prescription Drug Fraud
Pharmacy and prescription drug fraud in Medicare costs taxpayers billions every year and can put your health, benefits, and personal information at risk. Let’s talk about some ways it can happen and how you can stay a step ahead of the scam.

There may be problems with the medications you receive. You may get less medication than your doctor prescribed, or you could get expired medicine. This can risk your health and be easily missed unless you pay close attention.

Billing or prescription mix-ups can happen. Medicare could be charged for expensive brand name drugs when your doctor ordered generic. You could also be billed for unnecessary refills, or prescriptions you never picked up.

Finally, be on the lookout for anyone offering to pay you for your Medicare number or asks you to pick up their prescriptions using your Medicare number. This is illegal and can put you and your benefits at serious risk for penalties.

What can you do to protect yourself?

Read your Medicare Summary Notices or Explanation of Benefits carefully, looking for:
1. Medications you didn’t receive.
2. Prescriptions from providers you don’t know.
3. Quantities that don’t match your doctor’s orders.
4. Charges for more expensive drugs than your doctor ordered.
Keep an up-to-date list of your prescriptions and providers using My Health Care Tracker.
Count your pills to ensure accuracy.
If you suspect fraud, call the Missouri SMP at 888-515-6565.

The Missouri SMP is here to provide you with information you need to protect, detect, and report potential Medicare fraud, errors, and abuse. If you think you or a loved one has been a target of a Medicare scam, call the Missouri SMP at 888-515-6565.

This project was supported, in part, by the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $638,014 with 100 percent funding by ACL/HHS. The contents are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, ACL/HHS, or the U.S. Government

Aging Ahead
Aging Ahead supports individuals through the journey of aging.

Comments 16

  2. Daphne Phillips
    • Reply

    It’s devistating to read all Medicare, pharmacy, prescription information. Again, everyone isn’t tech saavy and would like to speak to a live person, at the phone listed on the letter/form. I’ve had questions of Medicare and have been on my cellphone for hours, callback icon is crap. I received, MyHealthcare tracker, not what I thought, but It is an addition to others that I track:)

  11. roth
    • Reply

    thank u for info i get my meds mostly thru my medicare provide thru the mail

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