Someone Called Offering Free Medicare Services. What Do You Do?

The call sounds helpful. Someone offers you a free back brace, a free glucose monitor, or a free in-home health assessment. All they need is your Medicare number to process it.

Hang up. Delete the email. Throw away the letter.

That is the complete answer. But understanding why this scam exists, and how far it can go, is worth knowing.

How the Scam Works

Medicare pays providers based on billed services. A Medicare number is essentially a billing key. Once a scammer has yours, they can submit claims to Medicare on your behalf for equipment you never received, visits that never happened, and care you never needed.

The fraud does not cost you money directly. Medicare absorbs the billed amount. But there are real consequences for you. Your Medicare records fill up with false entries. If those fraudulent claims include diagnoses you do not have, it can affect future coverage decisions. And if the scammer enrolled you in a service without your knowledge, you may lose access to legitimate care.

That last part matters most with hospice.

Why Hospice Fraud Is Different

When you enroll in Medicare hospice care, you agree to forgo curative treatment for your terminal illness. Medicare covers comfort care instead. That is a specific trade-off, and it is voluntary.

Scammers have been signing people up for hospice care without their knowledge. They collect billing from Medicare. Meanwhile, the person who was unknowingly enrolled cannot access regular Medicare benefits for their actual condition because Medicare believes they are in end-of-life care.

This is not a hypothetical. It is happening enough that CMS officially flagged it in June 2026 as a priority fraud category. If you receive any paperwork referencing hospice care, or if Medicare sends you a notice about hospice enrollment you did not initiate, contact Medicare immediately at 1-800-633-4227.

What CMS Is Doing About It

Medicare has temporarily stopped approving new home health and hospice agencies. This is a direct response to fraud. In recent years, hundreds of new agencies registered specifically to submit fraudulent claims before being shut down. By pausing new registrations, CMS is cutting off that pipeline.

This freeze does not affect your care. If you need home health or hospice services, you can still access them through existing agencies. Your doctor can refer you to an established agency in your area. The freeze only prevents new agencies from opening while CMS works through fraud investigations.

Red Flags to Watch For

Medicare will never call you out of the blue to offer services. Neither will a legitimate doctor's office. The scam almost always comes from somewhere unexpected.

Watch for these patterns: - A call, email, or text from someone you did not contact first, offering free equipment or services - A request for your Medicare number to "verify benefits" or "process a claim" - An offer of something free in exchange for answering a few questions - Paperwork arriving in the mail for services you did not request - A Medicare Summary Notice (MSN) listing services you never received

The Medicare Summary Notice is your paper trail. You receive it every three months if you have Original Medicare. Read it. Check every line. If something is listed that you do not recognize, call 1-800-MEDICARE.

How to Report Medicare Fraud

If you think you have been targeted or your Medicare number has been used without your knowledge, report it to:

• •**1-800-MEDICARE** (1-800-633-4227) — available 24 hours, 7 days a week
• •**Medicare.gov/fraud** — online reporting form
• •**HHS Office of Inspector General hotline** — 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477)
• •**Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP)** — a federally funded program that helps beneficiaries detect and report fraud; find your state program at smpresource.org

You can also request a new Medicare card if you believe your number has been compromised. CMS can issue a new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) in cases where fraud is confirmed.

One Rule That Stops Most Scams

Never give your Medicare number to anyone who contacted you first. Doctors' offices you visit will have your information already. Pharmacies get it through your plan. A stranger calling to offer free services has no legitimate reason to need it.

That one rule eliminates 90% of the risk.

For a full picture of what Medicare does and does not cover, see our [Medicare coverage guide](/what-medicare-doesnt-cover).