AUSTIN (KXAN) – Valerie Bennett rarely goes to the doctor, and she’s never had diabetes. So, it came as a troubling surprise when she noticed hundreds of dollars in diabetic supplies billed to her Medicare account and supplemental insurance in September and October.
Bennett tried multiple times to call the San Antonio company listed on the billing summary. She had never heard of the company before seeing it on her bill. She said she never got a call back, so she reported the charges to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, and sent an email about her experience to KXAN investigators.
“I was angry because that’s taxpayer money, and we all pay for that,” Bennett said. “That’s just wrong to use a system like that.”
Bennett said she hopes exposing the problem could spur people to report erroneous bills that might be Medicare fraud. Her charges appear to be a facet of the vast and lucrative nationwide industry of improper Medicare billing that costs billions in taxpayer dollars each year.
Source: Texas family’s warning after getting unexpected Medicare bill / KXAN Investigates