Elder Fraud in the USA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Elder Fraud in the USA - Essay Example Many of the elder frauds are unreported but leave the senior citizens in devastating situations since most of them have little time to recoup the losses. Surprisingly, most of the elder frauds against the senior citizens are committed by family members and mainly the adult children or grandchildren. Some of the common frauds include Medicare or health insurance frauds where the perpetrators pose as genuine Health insurance agents in order to obtain personal information from the elderly people or provide inferior services in small clinics and bill the costs to Medicare (Busch, 2012). Another common elder fraud in nursing is counterfeit prescription drugs which mainly are conducted through the internet. Elder people usually obtain drugs that may even lead to more harm and worsening of their medical conditions (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2012). This research paper will discuss types of elder fraud in the United States and offer recommendations on how to deter the fraud. The paper will utilize available literature on books and journals in order to understand elder fraud problem in the United States of America. Literature review According to figures released by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, healthcare related frauds cost the US economy about $ 250 billion every year. Elder fraud is one of the contributors of the skyrocketing medical costs in the US healthcare systems. Controlling elder fraud is difficult since the fraudsters who established sophisticated fraud schemes that entail overbilling the elderly patient, billing for more hours in a day or even charging the elder for services which were not offered (Busch, 2012). Elder people are polite and have excellent credit that makes them vulnerable to health care frauds. Elderly people also make poor witnesses since they do not provide detailed evidence and information to law enforcement officers due to their age effects on memory. Elderly people are also interested in products or medicines that increase their cognitive functioning, physical conditioning, and anti-cancer products thus increasing their vulnerability to fraudsters (Busch, 2012). The most common type of elder fraud is Medicare or health insurance fraud. All US citizens over the age of 65 years are eligible to Medicare plan that is primary financed by the federal government. â€Å"The fraudsters usually pose as agents of medical insurance companies or Medicare in order to obtain the victim’s personal information such as credit card details† (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2012, p 2). The perpetrators may also provide sub-standard medical services in mobile clinics and charge the services to Medicare in order to pocket the money. Other smaller frauds on Medicare and health insurance include the medical equipment fraud whereby the equipment manufacturers may offer free medical equipment to the elderly but the insurers are charged for the equipments even when they have not been delivered. Rolling lab frau d schemes is a common elder fraud which takes place when elderly people unnecessary or fake medical tests at their retirement homes or health clubs and the bogus service is charged to Medicare or the insurance companies.