TULSA, Okla. — Scammers are billing Medicare for medical supplies patients never ordered, and a recent change by Medicare is making this fraud easier for scammers to pull off.
The Oklahoma Insurance Department is sounding the alarm after at least 12 Oklahomans received shocking Medicare statements in the past few days.
Randy Kohl is one of the patients who found phony charges on his statement.
"We check our statements. Every time, just as soon as they come in, and go through them, and look, and make sure everything appears to be correct on it, and then you have something like this comes in, like, how can I owe $2,200? And then you get to looking, like, for catheters, and we don't even have catheters or use that," Kohl said.
Scammers use Medicare recipients' account numbers to fraudulently bill the system for medical supplies that were never ordered or received.
Ray Walker with the Oklahoma Insurance Department said his office is already seeing the financial impact.
"So far, just with the 12 reports that we've been able to substantiate, we've seen over $88,000 worth of charges that Medicare has actually paid. That's not counting what's been billed. Billed was over $135,000," Walker said.
The shocking statement isn't the only aggravation caused by this scheme.
"I do have to go through all the hassle now of them sending me a new Medicare card and changing it at all my doctors' offices," Kohl said.
The Oklahoma Insurance Department told 2 News Oklahoma that this kind of scam is now harder to detect because Medicare switched from sending recipients quarterly statements to once every six months. This means scammers could rack up fraudulent charges for half a year before a patient notices.
If fake charges go unnoticed or unreported, they can cause long-term issues for patients.
"Medicare assumes it's real, and that that person has that condition. So that can affect other aspects of that person's life. Such as future treatment, their ability to get life insurance," Walker said.
Patients do not have to wait six months for a statement to check activity on their Medicare account. You can set up an online account at Medicare.gov to see claims as they are processed.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Watch LIVE 24/7 on YouTube
