Health-related fraud schemes costing everyone, one unwanted delivery at a time
FORT WORTH (CBSNewsTexas) - People across North Texas are receiving unwanted deliveries at their doors and authorities say everyone else is paying for them.
The packages are piling up at George Hendricks' home in Fort Worth, each one filled with at-home COVID-19 test kits. "I didn't order them, and I said, 'where did these come from?" wondered Hendricks. "And there's no paperwork in there."
Hendricks knew he and his doctor weren't to blame, so he started digging. "I went to my Medicare claims history to see if they had billed Medicare - bingo!" Hendricks said two companies with addresses in Chicago and Boca Raton, Florida, had charged the tests to his account.
The same thing is happening to Cynthia Somerford in Garland. "This [package] came early last week, this [one] came at the end of the week." Along with the packages, she is also getting unwanted calls offering COVID-19 tests through Medicare. "It's scary to think that there's someone out there getting that information and abusing it," said Someford.
CBS News Texas tried to contact the companies listed in the return addresses on the packages. Some numbers had outgoing messages that mentioned the kits, but calls were not returned.
Both Hendricks and Somerford said they've reported the fraud to Medicare, but that hasn't stopped the deliveries.
CBS News Texas asked the U.S. Health and Human Services Commission about the issue. Assistant Inspector General Scott Lampert said the agency has received complaints from every state. "There are a number of health-related fraud schemes we're working right now," he said.
He would not talk about any investigations or talk about how many reports HHS has received, but Lampert said everyone is paying for the fraud through higher insurance premiums.
Lampert said Medicare recipients need to beware of phone and email scams that put their personal information at risk, and regularly check their benefit statements for signs of fraud.
Report fraud or abuse by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or by filing a complaint online.
That's little comfort to Hendricks and Somerford, who said they've already done all that. "People are pretty clever these days when it comes to fraud," said Somerford.
