Fraud Alert: Watch Out for Medicare Scams and Medical Identity Theft

We’ll cover Medicare scams, medical identity theft and how to stay safe.

In any given year, an estimated 5 to 10 percent 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 and stealing and misusing their private information.

Cases of medical ID theft reported to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rose from about 6,800 in 2017 to nearly 43,000 in 2021.