In any given year, an estimated five to 10% of the entire budget for Medicare is lost to fraudulent billing – often seeking reimbursement for services never provided. These schemes succeed by manipulating Medicare members or stealing and misusing private information. For example, prosecutors say a marketing company used social media and sales calls to advertise expensive genetic tests it claimed could determine a patient’s risk for cancer, heart problems, and other health conditions. The advertisements promised free DNA tests for Medicare members. But Medicare does not pay for genetic tests like these unless they are ordered by a doctor under extremely limited conditions. Read this story to learn about how a syndicate of doctors, lab owners, and middlemen was able to steal from Medicare.
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