Keep a Look-Out for your Well-Being

Forgery and fraud cases are incessantly on the rise and the newest method applied by the offenders to cheat innocent victims is to set up fraudulent health insurance agencies. They offer lucrative schemes and other advantages, sell the insurance policies at a high premium rate in the beginning, which they assure you would come down after six months time, and disappear into thin air with no way to trace them. Senior citizens are left flabbergasted when they see their money vanish, along with the hope for a better future in their old age.

• Signs to Watch Out for: To protect yourself from such medical frauds, you should keep a look out for some of the things that the company may claim, like the tests would become cheaper the more tests you sign up for. That certain services provided by them can be enjoyed by you free of costs. None of them can be true, because a test requires some minimum costs and no proper health care company will give it to you for free. You should also be suspicious of those who sign on the co-payment without even checking whether you have the ability to pay or not. They may even force you to buy high-priced and expensive medical services, trying to convince you that you need them even when you know perfectly well that you don’t.
• Medicare Fraud: In the U.S., a lot many people have been victims to Medicare fraud. Be cautious of those who try to corner you in a shopping mall or other public places and ask you for your Medicare number. This would be equal to identity theft. Just ignore such requests. Your Medicare number should be guarded with as much care and security as your credit card or social security number. Also be aware of door-to-door salesmen selling lucrative medical insurance or those offering free services.
• Government measures: A company in Florida by the name of Biometric Technologies has developed unique software called the BioClaim, which helps in detecting fraudulent healthcare claims. It is a patented product but is now used by many to protect themselves against scams. Even President Obama has decided to take a tough stand against healthcare fraud, as this not only drains the economy of financial resources but also adversely affects the lives of hundreds of people and deprive them of proper living. More than a hundred billion dollars is drained out of the economy each year and try as they might, the government can hardly trace the scammers back. Most of them are a part of some organized crime ring and are very well equipped to protect themselves. More than anything else it is up to the people to determine who they are dealing with.