The Medicare Summary Notice senior citizens receive every month has been redesigned. The changes are meant to make it easier to spot fraudulent claims.
As part of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, the federal government has devoted new resources to rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse in the Medicare program. The notice beneficiaries receive each month to explain their claims is being upgraded to make it easier to spot claims for services they never received.
Kansas Commissioner of Aging Craig Kaberline says one such case was discovered in Kansas by the daughter of a Medicare beneficiary
“People being sent diabetic supplies by five or six different vendors from across the country—something that they never ordered, obviously," he says. "Someone got ahold of their Medicare number, and then the supplies were being charged to their account.”
Kaberline says the reward money for people who report fraud has been increased to as much as $10,000.
He recommends that people cross-check their summaries each month to make sure all the charges are legitimate. Kaberline also says if anyone calls claiming to represent Medicare, that should send up a red flag.
“Medicare will never call you. They’ll never ask for your bank information. They’ve got all the information they need," he says. "If you receive anything from them, it will come in the mail.”
