Home Medical Equipment, Often a Scam--Look Out

--Con Artists Shine in the Art of Forcing Unneeded Home Medical Equipment on Medicare Recipients

"It's free. Medicare pays for it."

This is the hue and cry commonly fed to senior citizens--Medicare participants--by medical equipment manufacturers, their sales personnel, and by con artists. A wide range of in-house installations are covered--from oxygen units to various respiratory and other vital organs servicing devices. If your yawn is so wide that your cavities can be counted, be aware that a dentist somewhere will quickly step in, drilling and filling. Medical equipment fraud is a good example

For those who think you get Holy Water by boiling the hell out of it, the medical equipment boys frequently provide a good object lesson.

The appeal is so simple that it's hard to deny. All you need do is cough up your Medicare number and get your Doctor to sign a form certifying that the equipment is needed. This is most often easy to do. The physician justifies authorization on the grounds (to himself): Can't hurt; might help. With the con artist, they usually simply shortcut the whole routine by merely faking the signatures or bribing corrupt doctors to sign the forms. Once everything is in place the providers bill Medicare for services or merchandise not needed--and were not ordered through proper channeling.

As that renowned vendor of sage wisdom, Yogi Berra, said--you've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going because you might not get there--it's best to hold back, show some restraint, before signing up. Here are some check points to protect you from these fleece jobs.

< Practicing better living through denial is better than freely giving personal information away. Give your insurance / Medicare identification only to those who have provided you with medical services.

< Don't get into a situation like 2 monkeys fighting over a lone banana. Know if your physician has ordered equipment for you. If in doubt, ask, in so many words.

< Keep full, complete records. Where deceit and humbug rein, you've got to have black and white documentation of everything.

< Don't let the choice become: Which is it? Are you a slow learner or a quick forgetter? This is a situation that could be dangerous. So, do not do business with door-to-door or telephone salespeople who tell you that use of medical equipment is free.

Little realized is that, frequently, the "beneficiaries" of the special home, medical equipment treatment are indicted right along with the con artist propagators. If the men in the white coats adorn you with a straightjacket--because you let yourself drift into fraud, and started beating your head against a wall when accused--you can be certain this is not a piece of medical equipment designed for use at home. Too late. For sure, you are about to be "hauled off."