Fraudulent COVID test charges on Medicare Summary

[Anonymous]

I was just going through my (disabled) husband's Medicare Part B Summary Notice and found it was odd

We have two summaries for some reason:

one covering April 5-July 3 2023

Another covering April 20- July 14 2023

He had no health care treatment during those time frames (just prescription refills).

There are 4 charges for at-home COVID tests during that time frame. Medicare paid $94 each time. The charges come from all over the country.

We didn't order any at home COVID tests and he didn't take any either.

I called to report this as fraud but ended up waiting on hold. I don't have the patience to deal with Medicare right now. Has this been happening to other people?

Why wouldn't Medicare notice that a patient in MD was getting these tests from all over the country within a short time frame? Wouldn't that be noticed? People have to jump through SO MANY HOOPS to get Medicare reimbursement for legitimate therapies and treatments.

[Anonymous]

Oooh, you know what? I think I do remember a box or two of unordered COVID tests arriving in the mail this spring. I thought at the time it was some government provided "Free COVID" test for Medicare patients.

[Anonymous]

So did you receive tests that are free to you, but that Medicare is paying on your behalf?

[Anonymous]

I also got 4 free kits I never ordered that Medicare paid for. I looked further into it and found Medicare paid for 2 tests done by a lab that I never had done. It’s a big topic of conversation among the Medicare crowd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So did you receive tests that are free to you, but that Medicare is paying on your behalf?

Definitely free to us. But not ordered by us, desired by, or used by us!



It's a scam apparently.

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/fraudulent-fees-medicare-covid-19-tests-senator-cardin-response/44565815

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/medicare-fraudulent-fees-covid-19-tests/43976505

https://www.justice.gov/usao-nh/pr/consumer-alert-covid-19-test-medicare-scams

[Anonymous]

As of Monday, the I-Team has heard from 128 Maryland residents who said they received 1,354 unwanted boxes of COVID tests. Medicare pays about $96 per box, meaning taxpayers are forking over $129,984 for tests people never wanted or ordered.

The 11 News I-Team first broke the story on May 23 of two Maryland residents who received COVID-19 tests in the mail that they never asked for with Medicare paying the bill of $6,200.

The number of people kept growing. Just three days later, 66 people reported to the I-Team fraudulent fees amounting to more than $57,000 in taxpayer money.

The I-Team has also learned the U.S. Department of Justice has criminally charged two people in Florida for conspiring to defraud the United States, accusing them of illegally using peoples' Medicare numbers to purchase and send them COVID-19 tests they never requested.

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/fraudulent-fees-medicare-covid-19-tests-senator-cardin-response/44565815

I am not going to bother called Medicare to report this. They know about it.

[Anonymous]

Why in the world is Medicare paying $96 per box of COVID tests?

[Anonymous]

Mine was charged over and over. I never received any tests regardless. Why are they paying these, what a colossal waste of money- and they know these are scams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine was charged over and over. I never received any tests regardless. Why are they paying these, what a colossal waste of money- and they know these are scams.

Because government is so inefficient that they don’t know how NOT to pay them.
Because government doesn’t have any money of its own, so doesn’t care how they use YOUR money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine was charged over and over. I never received any tests regardless. Why are they paying these, what a colossal waste of money- and they know these are scams.

Because government is so inefficient that they don’t know how NOT to pay them.
Because government doesn’t have any money of its own, so doesn’t care how they use YOUR money

But I even notified them after a scam call, and after pointing out several charges