ServiceLink: Be Aware of Medicare Fraud

Information and resources to help avoid Medicare fraud

It is estimated that between 60 and 62 Billion dollars a year are wasted on healthcare fraud, errors and abuse. These dollars rob the Medicare Trust fund for future generations.

In the 1990s, Congress decided to institute the Senior Medicare Patrol program (SMP) to help people with Medicare to be more aware of health care fraud and how they could protect themselves, detect suspicious situations, and how to report those cases for further investigations.

ServiceLink contracts with the NH Department of Health and Human Services to provide the Senior Medicare Patrol program (SMP) in New Hampshire.

Every ServiceLink office has Medicare-trained SMP specialists to educate and counsel people on Medicare who have questions about their Medicare billings.

SMP specialists also conduct education and outreach in the community for people with Medicare and other health care insurance so they will understand the importance of:

checking their billing statements for accuracy
protecting their personal identity, Medicare and Social Security numbers and never giving private information to people they do not know
being alert of telemarketing scams and other people who claim to be calling from Medicare or Social Security

Here are some typical examples of healthcare fraud, errors, and abuse:

You receive medical supplies in the mail that were not ordered by your doctor.
Your Medicare Summary Notices shows services that you did not received.
A sales agent came to you house uninvited and tried to sell you insurance that you don’t understand or need
A telemarketer tries to offer you free medical supplies but asks for your Medicare number to complete the order.