"PREDATORY" SCAMS-FRAUDS-CONS

• Scams may affect your health, increase your insurance rates or place you at legal risk.

• Your medical ID number can be stolen and used to bill health programs for phantom treatments. The info is gotten from dumpsters behind medical clinics, a break into doctor offices, and hacking into computer databases.  Shred your sensitive information!

• Avoid door-to-door or telephone salespeople who offer you free medical services or equipment.

• Back off if someone says they can bill your health program to pay for an uncovered treatment or equipment. Its illegal, you could lose your health coverage, be arrested, fined, thrown into jail, or live with a conviction record that disrupts your life for years to come.

• Be careful if medical providers say they're connected with the federal government, Medicare, Medicaid or other health programs. They only submit bills!

• Check with your state insurance department to make sure the health insurance company is licensed to do business in your state.

• See if the health insurer has a history of consumer complaints, bankruptcy, fraud convictions or other problems.

• Keep all records and review them to see if you're being overbilled.

• Be cautious If a medical professional guarantees they can cure your ailment and prevent reoccurrence of similar problems.

• Medication without side effects can not be equivocally stated.

• Quacks may use the terms: Keep an open mind, Let's work together, Don't be afraid to experiment, Science doesn't have all the answers, What have you got to lose, Take charge of your health, Studies are underway, Time-tested,  Used for centuries, Jump on the bandwagon, We treat medicine's failures, We treat the whole patient.

• Endorsements Don't Guarantee Reliability.

• The product discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media rather to scientific journals.

• Online pharmacies offer drugs and medicines at very cheap prices or without a prescription may very well have fake or diluted drugs.

TO FILE A COMPLAINT GO TO THE COMPLAINTS SECTION BY CLICKING HERE  

• Know what your medical benefits are, what's covered and what isn't.

• Save up to 60 percent on healthcare. The term up to is meaningless. Just don't expect anything close to 60%.

• Medicare Advantage plans cover everything the original Medicare plan covers and often cost less but have more restrictions on access to doctors and hospitals.

• Long Term Care discounts are not long term health insurance.

• Discount health cards offer discounts on physician visits, hospital stays, prescription drugs, dental work, eye care and other treatment. This is not insurance, just lower prices on services that accept these discounts. Many are deceptive or fraudulent or may offer services you don't need or they may not exist at all.

• Guaranteed  Benefit discount cards can sound like insurance, they are not!

• Unethical providers may fraudulently double or triple their bill to health insurance companies hoping the insurer won't discover the overruns in the stack of bills. They will eventually cost you more in higher insurance rates.

• Double Billing for the same service will affect your coverage.

• Ask your medical providers what price they charge and what you'll pay out-of-pocket.

• Keep detailed records of treatments you receive. Include all dates, locations, who provided the treatments, what services you received, and what medicine, supplies or equipment were provided.

• Carefully review the billing and summary statements you receive after treatment. Are the treatment dates, doctors name's, facility locations and medical services the same as you remember? Know what medical equipment and supplies your provider ordered, as well.

• Question your health provider and ask for clarification if you see problems or inconsistencies on your bills.

• Is the doctor certified and have been used by others you know. You might receive shoddy or substandard treatment for real and urgent medical problems otherwise.

• You might receive dangerous and even life-threatening treatment you don't need.

• Make sure that if you are having an operation on one part of your body,  the other part is marked NO in indelible ink.