Health Care Scams and Frauds

You’d think that when you got to be older that things would settle
into an easy and pleasant routine. Instead, seniors are subject to more
scams than ever, including health care cons.

Whatever happened to the time when seniors were revered and held in
great esteem? When they were the history and our legends, and stood for
progress? When they fought for us to make this nation great and free
and lived to tell those battle stories? What happened in the 21st
century is recession, lives lived longer than ever, escalating health
care costs, and a total confusion about what Medicare and Medicare
supplements offer. What happened are insurance companies ripping off
unsuspecting seniors because they can.

Why prey on seniors? The answer to that is easy. Preying on seniors
is like shooting fish in a barrel. They’re there, they have no place to
go and sometimes no family support, usually have money saved up for a
small nest egg and aren’t technologically savvy or that aware of what
goes on around them, especially if they have cognitive difficulties.

Seniors have become “easy” targets for scammers and schemers and
insurance companies who would rather rip them off than make sure they
have what they need in terms of proper health insurance. Unfortunately,
it is incredibly easy to take advantage of some seniors. Consider this;
ALL seniors are on Medicare of some sort, but asking them how their
policy works usually draws a blank stare.

Start asking them questions about whether or not there is a
deductible for parts A through D and they don’t know if they pay one or
not. Is there anything better in terms of a Medicare Supplement plan
other than alphabet letters A through L? Again, many elderly people
don’t know the answer. Ask if their Medicare Advantage plans (soon to
be extinct) cost more by way of co-pays and deductibles than it really
saves on their premiums, and once again, they are not sure.

Most seniors are aware of the news about health care reform and
their major concern is whether or not their plans will be taken away
and how to keep paying for them if the price goes up. That is the focus
of America’s seniors – will they lose their plans, what will replace
them and how much will it cost. It’s not much of a wonder why a senior
on a limited budget would jump at the chance to save money on health
insurance if it were offered to them. It would be easy for someone to
say, “You can save a lot of money with my plan.”

The point to be made is that there is a great deal of confusion over
the existing Medicare system, over what will happen to it and about
what will replace it or improve it, or not. Unfortunately there are
scam artists lurking out there, dressed in insurance broker clothing,
who are more interested in making money from uninformed and confused
seniors. For example, there have been cases where seniors had Medicare
Supplement plans and were enrolled in the Advantage plan, which is
illegal.

There are also cases of elderly people being invoiced twice for the
same co-pay amount and paying it because they thought they should. Was
the double billing unintentional or not? It could have been double
billed on purpose, as Medicare fraud is at an all time high.

Are there solutions to situations like this or are the system and
the people in it doomed to be ripped off? With more attention to
education about health care and health insurance and looking out for
one another, there is hope. Our finances are personal and need to be
protected. People need to get wise and get articulate about their
health insurance. Knowledge is indeed power.

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