{"id":781,"date":"2026-05-30T19:36:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T19:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=781"},"modified":"2026-05-30T19:36:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T19:36:37","slug":"covering-the-cost-how-to-protect-yourself-from-medicare-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=781","title":{"rendered":"Covering the Cost: How to protect yourself from Medicare fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<section>\n<p>HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) &#8211; Medicare fraud costs American taxpayers at least $60 billion each year.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=779\">Man seriously injured in non-fatal shark attack at Cromwell\u2019s Beach<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But that number is likely underreported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you think about culturally here in Hawaii, the shame, the embarrassment, the guilt, a lot of people don\u2019t report their losses or their claims,\u201d said Norma Kop, director of the federally-funded Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) of Hawaii.<\/p>\n<p>Medicare is a federal health insurance program that covers people age 65 and older, and individuals with certain disabilities. While every worker pays into the system, scammers file false claims and abuse the system for profit.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Monday kicks off National Medicare Fraud Prevention Week, and experts say protecting your hard-earned healthcare benefits starts with education.<\/p>\n<p>Trained volunteers with SMP Hawaii hold regular workshops to teach beneficiaries, families and caregivers how to read Medicare benefit statements and detect potential fraud.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re on original Medicare, you have what\u2019s called Medicare Summary Notices or for short MSN. If you\u2019re on, like a lot of people here are on one of the Medicare Advantage plans, it\u2019s called the Explanation of Benefits, so EOB,\u201d Kop said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany people just sort of open it and go, oh, this is not a bill, and they leave it alone. But in those statements are things that could be suspicious, things that services or procedures you never approved or even discussed with your physician, let alone the physician approving itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=777\">Legislation named for slain Maui police officer fails over mandatory minimum sentencing<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Scammers will get hold of your Medicare number, file false claims and use certain codes to cash in on a higher reimbursement, anything from a pricey prescription to a procedure like chemo therapy to hospice care.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you authentically need hospice care, guess what? You don\u2019t qualify for it. It\u2019s done. Medicare says you\u2019ve put in the claim,\u201d Kop explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGift card, romance, cryptocurrency, imposter scams, Social Security scams are all inroads to getting your Medicare card number. And any of these scams can wreak havoc on our mental, psychological, emotional, physical, financial health, our spiritual health.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here are more ways to protect yourself and your loved ones from scammers:<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The next \u201cMalama Your Medicare: Track It to Protect It\u201d free Zoom presentation led by SMP Hawaii, will be on Thursday, June 4, from 10-11:30 a.m. Learn how to read your medical statements, identify red flags and volunteer to help protect others from Medicare fraud, errors and abuse. Click here to register.<\/p>\n<p>Contact SMP Hawaii to receive a free \u201cMy Health Care Tracker\u201d booklet to compare doctor visits, lab tests, procedures and prescriptions with your MSN or EOB notices. You can also download the SMP Medicare Tracker App for your device. <\/p>\n<p>Follow the SMP National Facebook page for more tips and resources.<\/p>\n<p>Contact SMP Hawaii to find out more about free one-on-one counseling, presentations and resources to increase your awareness. Visit smphawaii.org or email info@smphawaii.org. Call 808-586-7281 on Oahu or toll free at 1-800-296-9422. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=775\">Hawaii man pleads guilty to possessing child porn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monday kicks off National Medicare Fraud Prevention Week, with an educational campaign to help you protect your hard-earned healthcare benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Covering the Cost: How to protect yourself from Medicare fraud - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=781\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Covering the Cost: How to protect yourself from Medicare fraud - 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