A local lawmaker is sounding the alarm for seniors by calling attention to recent Medicare and Medicaid fraud scams.
In recent years, the state has seen an increase in fraud cases involving reimbursement by those programs, particularly related to adult day care centers. Assemblyman Ron Kim and the state Attorney General’s office partnered with the Chinese Community Center of Flushing to offer a Medicaid Fraud Prevention Workshop on Monday.
Seniors got a chance to learn about their rights and received tips on how to recognize fraud.
“These are taxpayer dollars that are meant to be providing meaningful services to the most vulnerable members of our community,” Kim said. “Yet these people are shortchanging their money and using that to bribe people into their senior centers, and that is not right.”
The workshop came the same day a Brooklyn clinic owner was sentenced to five years in prison in a $70 million Medicare and Medicaid fraud scheme. Federal prosecutors say Victor Lipkin recruited low income residents to undergo unnecessary tests at clinics in Brooklyn and Queens, then billing Medicare or Medicaid for the procedures.