Posts Tagged ‘protect seniors’
Applying for VA Benefits: Don’t be Scammed!
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010Preventing Medicare Fraud
Friday, December 10th, 2010This a great video about health care fraud from SMP, and how to avoid being victimized…
7 Simple Tips to Prevent Medicare Fraud
Friday, December 3rd, 2010In the previous post, we alerted you about the possible dangers relating to Medicare fraud, and how that can seriously impact the care you need, when you need it…
Here are some practical tips that can help prevent a disaster for you or your loved ones.
1) Protect your Medicare card, like you would a credit card of Social Security card. Do not ever give your Medicare number when talking to someone you don’t know over the phone. Any kind of stranger who asks for your Medicare number is suspect — even if they claim to be conducting a government-sponsored health care survey.
2) Never allow a friend or relative to use your card. They may be trustworthy, but your number can be stolen from them. And of course, should you lose your card, you should report it immediately. Time is of the essence.
3) Never accept offers for medical equipment, supplies, or services that you do not need – or that you are already currently using. For example, you or loved one might be receiving dialysis treatment and be approached by someone offering “free supplies.” If you unwittingly give that person access to your name, address, and Medicare information, you may indeed receive these “gifts” and have Medicare fraudulently billed without you knowing. When this happens, report it immediately.
4) Do not give your insurance information to anyone offering a free medical service. They do not need your insurance information (except of course to scam you by harvesting your Medicare number to commit fraud on your account!)
5) Check your Medicare statements regularly. Review them carefully (just like you would check your credit card bill). Be on the lookout for suspicious charges — for example, bogus charges for doctor visits that didn’t occur, provider names that you don’t know, or any equipment or supplies that you have never received. Check with you physician or health provider first, just to rule out honest mistakes in billing or accounting. If you have an “unexplained,” suspicious entry, report it immediately.
6) Keep a log of your doctors visits and other medical services you receive, so that way you can check it against your statements. Buy a 50 cent spiral notebook and write this information down (see tip number 5).
6) Be careful of enrollment periods — this is the time when criminals victimize seniors by peddling bogus prescription plans. Sometimes these swindlers offer products and services that aren’t even covered by Medicare, to entice the unsuspecting senior. Go check out this link to see if the insurance plan you are considering is legitimate. If they are not listed here, be specially wary. Investigate further.
7) Review you credit reports regularly. If you find out that you have unpaid medical bills, that may very well be a result of a fraudulent transaction billed to your name.
Write the following phone number down, and tape it on your refrigerator. This is the number you need to call if you suspect or encounter fraudulent activity:
(1-800-447-8477) or 1-800-HHS-TIPS
Their email is HHSTips@hhs.gov
In addition, you can go this link to find the Senior Medicare Patrol in your state (which is part of the State Health Insurance Counseling and Assistance Program.)
Beware of Medicare Fraud!
Monday, November 29th, 2010Last October, more than 40 members of a crime syndicate were arrested and charged in an extensive Medicare fraud case. The suspects stole the identities of thousands of physicians and patients, and used these information at more than 100 fake health clinics in 25 states to bill Medicare for more than $100 million. In another case, a Miami mental health organization was charged with filing $200 million fake claims for therapy sessions.
These are the large scale scams that make the news.
However, there is a lot of fraud happening below the radar, so to speak, that can affect us directly.
For example, criminals often offer unsuspecting patients medical equipment and supplies they don’t even need, or even qualify for, to collect Medicare information. These swindlers then bill for other supplies and services the patients never received and pocket the reimbursements. Sometimes they even offer “free services” like cholesterol screening or diabetes check-ups, to get Medicare numbers. Though seniors trapped in these criminal set-ups rarely face financial liability, the fact is their medical records get compromised. This can negatively affect their health benefits in the future, without them even knowing that something bad has happened to their file.
For example, one senior needed a wheelchair, but was denied one by Medicare. Her records indicated that she already had a wheelchair for the last five years. In fact, the individual’s Medicare number had been already compromised — and she didn’t even know when it happened!
Sometimes, Medicare recipients apply for long-term care, and their application gets denied due to that fact that their medical records are full of bogus tests and medical treatments. This affects not only these individuals directly in need of these services, but also the rest of the population. Fraud raises premiums. Also, whenever there are “crackdowns” to assuage the public about the rising incidence of these scams, it makes it extra difficult for people with true medical needs to apply for the care they require and deserve.
In our next post, we will cover some practical steps you can take to prevent these kinds of abuse…
Alzheimer’s and Money Problems
Sunday, November 21st, 2010This excellent short video is a cautionary tale about the dangers of Alzheimer’s for Seniors. The following background story about Alzheimer’s and Money Problems is from CBS News. (“Senior Moment:” As the Boomer Generation Ages, Dr. Jon LaPook Examines How Easily Warning Signs for Alzheimer’s Are Missed. by Jonathan LaPook)
“Dr. Max Gomez was a successful OB-GYN in Miami, delivering thousands of babies. He lived the good life, but admits he was bad with money. Gomez has suffered more than a few bad investments. He is now penniless, living in a care facility paid for by Medicaid.
His son is WCBS medical correspondent Dr. Max Gomez. Even with his training, he missed the warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease until three years ago — when he discovered his father had lost every dollar he’d earned.
Dr. Gomez’s father was not practicing medicine, but still had the title of medical director at a clinic. That clinic made him legally responsible for multiple commercial loans, and took out mortgages in his name.
A girlfriend wrote thousands of dollars in checks against his savings account.
The FBI started investigating after his ID was used to file millions of dollars in false Medicare claims.
“Here he was helpless and being taken advantage of left and right,” Dr. Gomez says of his father. He adds, “There’s never one big ‘ah ha’ moment.”
Patients can seem lucid. Even as, in Dr. Gomez’s case, the disease is destroying the brain. In Alzheimer’s disease, nerve cells die in key brain regions. One of the first is the hippocampus. Damage to the hippocampus, and later the frontal lobe, affect the ability to plan organize and reason – crucial for managing money.
“You can’t retain the facts because of memory, and you can’t utilize the facts efficiently,” explains Mony John de Leon, director of the NYU Center for Brain Health. “It’s very hard – as people become deteriorated – to manage finances.”
The financial services industry realizes brokers and bankers may see aging clients more often than out-of-town families do. They’re training representatives to report warning signs including confusion, mood swings, and losing things. Susan Axelrod of the Financial Industry Regulator Authority adds, “Also importantly, changing a long term investment strategy suddenly.”
Planning for Long-Term Care
Friday, October 29th, 2010Planning for long-term care helps identify what service options are available in your community, as well as what special conditions may apply for receiving services (e.g., age, cost, payment options). Obtaining this information is good preparation for the time when a person will be needing long-term care. It will help you understand what choices you have, and control over what, where, and how you receive the services you will need.
About 70 percent of people over the age of 65 require some services. The likelihood of needing care increases as we age. Planning is critical because the cost of long-term care services often exceeds what the average person can pay from income and other resources. If you plan ahead, you may be able to save your assets and income for uses other than long-term care.
With effective planning, there is of course greater likelihood of being able to preserve your estate for your loved ones, by minimizing the costs of paying for long-term care. It also translates to less financial stress and emotional wear-and-tear on you and your family. The chances of being able to stay at home as long as possible and within your community will be much greater. Most importantly, it helps ensure a greater degree of independence if and when you need care.
Despite the importance of planning, a lot of people fail to do so. There are many reasons for this shortcoming. People have a natural tendency to avoid thinking of unpleasant things, of being dependent on others as we age. We don’t like to think about getting older, being disabled, becoming less independent, or needing help with our own personal care. There is also a lot of existing misinformation about long-term care needs, as well as their costs and payment options associated with these services.
For example, most people have no idea how expensive long-term care can be, and how it is paid. Many seniors don’t realize that health insurance, Medicare, and/or disability coverage do not pay for most long-term care services. Medicaid (Medi-Cal) pays for some long-term care services, but only if one qualifies due to income and financial resource limitations.
Planning for long-term care is a difficult subject of conversation in most families. Adult children may hesitate to bring up the subject, for fear that they may be patronizing their parents. They may think that their eagerness to bring up this topic may be misconstrued as not wanting to provide care for their parents “when the time comes.” Parents may not want discuss the details of their financial life with their children. It may also be as simple as not knowing how to go about the planning process itself.
In future posts, we will talk about some of the key information and resources you need to know in order to plan ahead…
5 Tips to Protect Seniors From Scams
Thursday, January 28th, 2010Protect Yourself! Here are some tips to learn the signs of trouble and prevent scammers from hurting you.
- Avoid telemarketers by registering with the National Do Not Call Registry by calling toll free (888) 382-1222
- Screen out telemarketers with an answering machine, just remember to let your friends know that you have one and to leave a short message when they call
- Get unlisted at Google. Find out if your name and address is publicly listed at google.com by typing them into the search box. If you find it, it’s easy to remove your listing from there.
- Take your outgoing mail to a postal service mail box; don’t leave it in the mailbox at your home.
- Opt out of incoming credit card and insurance offers. They risk exposure to identity theft. You can also opt out by signing up at www.opoutprescreen.com
