Portage woman reports Medicare scam involving COVID-19 tests
Jul. 27—PORTAGE, Pa. — When Jennifer Shaffer, of Portage, checked her Medicare statement and saw the government was billed for four COVID-19 test results, she knew something was wrong.
"I've never ordered a COVID test. I've never taken a COVID test," Shaffer said.
She contacted Medicare to report the inaccurate billing and was told the agency would investigate.
Shaffer was not billed for the tests, but wants other seniors to know about the potential fraud, and advises them to check their statements carefully.
A report by KFF News, a nonprofit media outlet affiliated with the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, shows COVID-19 test scams have been keeping the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General busy for the past few months. The office posted a warning on its website in February, listing some precautions.
The most widespread scam, apparently, involves companies shipping home test kits to Medicare recipients who did not order them and then billing the agency, the KFF story says.
"Unfortunately, most of these schemes are the result of bad actors receiving stolen Medicare beneficiary information," Scott Lampert, assistant inspector general for investigations, told the news service.
Being targeted can mean the Medicare enrollee would be vulnerable to future scams because it means someone has the person's Medicare information, María Alvarez, of New York state's Senior Medicare Patrol, told KFF News.
"If you have someone's Medicare number, you can bill Medicare for procedures, tests, drugs, services and durable medical equipment," Alvarez said.
"On the dark web, Medicare numbers are more valuable than credit card or Social Security numbers."
Examining Shaffer's statement showed the four tests were submitted by four different labs.
The first invoice is dated July 5, 2022, from Al Ameer Testing Center in Carol Stream, Illinois; the second is July 13 from Lone Star Labs in Plano, Texas; the third is Aug. 3, 2022, from VCare Testing Centre in Chicago; and the last one is April 7, 2023, from AZ Labs in Chicago.
Both Al Ameer and VCare listed the same phone number, which was answered by a recording saying the call was transferred to a voicemail.
A message was not immediately returned.
The Lone Star Lab number failed to connect and the AZ Lab call was answered by recording saying the voice mailbox was full.
According to the statement, Medicare paid $96 each to Al Ameer, V Care and AZ labs but did not pay Lone Star.
