No one should ever ask for your Medicare number
on the phone if they call you; you should only give your Medicare
number to someone on the phone if you call them, and it is someone
that you know and trust (your doctor, your Social Worker/case
worker, etc.).
Equipment companies that work with Medicare are
not allowed to make cold calls, so if someone calls you offering
diabetic supplies or medical equipment, they are already breaking
Medicare’s rules.
Home health companies should not be making cold
calls or door-to-door visits, either. In one of the reports we
received this week, a Medicare beneficiary was contacted by a
“Senior Resource Center,” who collected her Medicare number and sent
a home health company to her home. These companies often end up
billing Medicare fraudulently for thousands of dollars in services
or supplies that they did not provide, and the beneficiary is then
unable to access those services or supplies later when they actually
need them.
If anyone has given their Medicare number away
to a company that contacted them on the phone, please contact the
Illinois SMP program at AgeOptions right away: (800)699-9043. If
anyone receives calls like this in the future, remember – just say
no.
Erin Weir, MSW,
LSW, Illinois Healthcare Consumer Protection Coordinator
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