- Linda Karlinsey, a Utah resident, faced Medicare fraud with unauthorized medical charges.
- A New York company billed over $8,200 for supplies Karlinsey didn't order.
WILLARD, Box Elder County — Linda Karlinsey is a dissectologist. That's a fancy term for someone who loves jigsaw puzzles. But she is no fan of the puzzling charges that recently hit her Medicare account.
"It really quite makes me angry," Karlinsey said. "I have no tolerance for scammers."
A New York-based medical supply company keeps trying to bill Medicare for supplies she didn't order. It started with over $2,600 in charges for 10 glucose monitors for Karlinsey. She doesn't even need one glucose monitor.
"That caught my attention because I'm not diabetic," she said.
Medicare caught the fraud and rejected that claim. Months later, the same company charged Medicare over $8,200 worth of "wound dressings" for her. Again, supplies that she says she didn't order and didn't receive.
"I thought because I'd reported the first time, that would be taken care of," Karlinsey said. "But no."
Medicare did not catch the fraud this time and paid $6,300 of your tax dollars to the company. Karlinsey said she reached out to Medicare and said she didn't hear back and she asked me to investigate.
Prior complaints
The company is Almaz Med Supply, based in Queens, New York. The KSL Investigators called the company to ask about these claims — but it didn't return our calls. The Better Business Bureau website shows many very similar complaints of bogus claims against Almaz.
So, we reached out to Medicare to ask about all this. It won't comment on Karlinsey's case but said it takes fraud seriously and investigates.
You should know, more than a little slips through the cracks. Audits have found that fraud costs Medicare around $60 billion every year.
As for Karlinsey, she admitted she hasn't always read over her Medicare benefits statements, but she sure does now.
"Eventually, it comes out of my pocket. All of ours," she said. "Everybody has to be vigilant."
How to protect yourself
And that is the best thing Medicare patients can do, the feds said — actually open each explanation of benefits and scan through it. If you find something that shouldn't be there, report it.
To report Medicare fraud, call 1-800-633-4227 or file a report online with the Department of Health and Human Services, here — http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/report-fraud/. Additional fraud resources are available on the Senior Medicare Patrol's website.
