How you can protect yourself from Medicare Scams
Self-defense is a valuable life skill to have. Many, however, don’t think of scam self-defense. An
estimated $7 million an hour is lost to healthcare fraud, errors or abuse. When people steal from
Medicare, it hurts us all and can be considered easy money for criminals. The October Fraud Fact from
the Missouri SMP (Senior Medicare Patrol) highlights a few scam self-defense tactics you can use to
protect yourself and loved ones from potential Medicare fraud.
- Guard Your Card. Protect your Medicare number just like you would your credit card number.
- Don’t carry your Medicare card with you unless you are going directly to the doctor.
- Don’t accept money, gifts or supplies from anyone in exchange for your Medicare number.
- Don’t engage in scam offers. Ignore emails, throw away mailers, don’t accept friend requests
from unknown people or duplicate accounts, don’t answer unknown numbers and hang up on
bogus calls. - Register your phone number on the National Do Not Call registry by calling 888-382-1222,
and opt out of marketing emails by visiting www.optoutprescreen.com. This will not stop
scam attempts, but it can make it easier to identify good from bad. Most legitimate marketers
will not contact you once you have registered on these lists. - Review your Medicare Summary Notice (MSN) or Explanation of Benefits (EOB) to
make sure you received the services listed. Use the My Health Care Tracker to record medical
visits, tests, services, and equipment. Cross check those with your tracker once your MSN or
EOB is available. - Stay up-to-date on current scams and scammer tactics by following the Missouri SMP on
Facebook. SMP staff members and volunteers offer free scam self-defense in your community
through group presentations and community events. Contact the SMP to schedule. - Volunteer with the SMP to help protect your loved ones, friends, and neighbors. You may
be up-to-date on scam self-defense, but by volunteering someone in your community could
benefit too.
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 us 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 $662,347 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