DOJ Probing Covid Test Fraud Including Kits Sent to Dead People

The US Justice Department is investigating who bilked millions from Medicare by stealing the ID numbers of seniors in multiple states and ordering Covid-19 tests they didn’t want.

Fraudsters even billed for rapid tests ordered under the names of dead people, according to a health-care fraud prosecutor at the Justice Department who spoke on condition of anonymity because the probe is ongoing.

Federal investigators are just beginning to uncover the breadth of the fraud, which involved hundreds of thousands of tests. Seniors and their families in at least 10 states have been targeted, Bloomberg Government found.

“With scams, there tends to be some local focus, a focus in a certain city or state,” said John Risler, volunteer director of Northeast Florida’s Senior Medicare Patrol task force. “These are coming from all over the place.”

The fraud is a consequence of President Joe Biden‘s response to a shortage of Covid-19 tests around the 2021 holiday season, when shoppers struggled to find them in stores. The Biden administration in early 2022 expanded access to free tests but often without the safeguards that would make it harder to get them to Americans quickly.

It is the latest in a string of scams targeting seniors during the coronavirus pandemic, advocates for seniors said. The Justice Department in April charged a Florida physician and marketer who it said illegally bought Medicare ID numbers and sent tests to seniors who did not request them. The scheme resulted in $8.4 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, the Justice Department said.

The department, along with the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, is investigating other reports of coronavirus tests being sent to recipients who never ordered them, both said in separate statements.

The onslaught of unwanted tests is expected to wane. Medicare generally no longer covers an at-home Covid test unless a health provider orders it, after the Biden administration ended pandemic emergency measures on May 11.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has received calls from seniors about receiving test kits they didn’t order and is investigating instances of “potential abuse,” a spokesperson for the agency said. “The number of complaints represent a small portion of people with Medicare that have received these tests,” the spokesperson said.

‘Most Reported’ Covid Scam

In New York, unsolicited test kits being sent to people’s homes are “the most reported Covid-19 scam to date,” said Tiffany Erhard, director of that state’s Senior Medicare Patrol, an organization that helps guide beneficiaries. Reports surged in the months leading up to the official end of the pandemic emergency, Erhard said. One senior received 16 unsolicited tests, she said.

In New Hampshire, Attorney General John Formella reported a rise in complaints from seniors about unwanted tests, he said in a statement. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul received seven complaints about the same problem, said Annie Thompson, a spokeswoman for Raoul.

Jay Todras, who helps seniors facing Medicare fraud in the Tampa, Fla. area, said he’s been “inundated” with similar complaints.

Bloomberg Government also identified victims in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Arkansas, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.

Medicare equipment scams aren’t unusual, said Arthur Fried, member of the health-care practice at Epstein Becker & Green’s New York office. Often bad actors will send seniors supplies they don’t need, such as a back brace or wheelchair, and send Medicare the bill.

“Covid opened up another frontier for scams that had been in existence before then,” Fried said.

Recovering Stolen Funds

As part of the administration’s strategies for quickly getting test kits to people, Medicare announced it would pay for up to eight rapid tests per month for covered seniors. Medicare paid providers and pharmacies directly for the tests with no cost for seniors. National pharmacy chains such as Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., Walmart Inc., and CVS Health Corp. participated.

The administration separately offered all households a limited number of free at-home Covid tests by mail, adding to the confusion for seniors who received unwanted packages of tests from scammers.

Seniors who receive unwanted tests should report it to Medicare’s watchdog, the agency said. Scammers can use stolen ID numbers to charge Medicare for other unnecessary items.

“They might start getting other bills because their Medicare information is compromised,” said Andrea Spencer, a spokeswoman for ElderSource, a nonprofit serving seniors in Northeast Florida.