COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Burnside Senior Center in Coldwater is warning area older adults of a new genetic testing scam that is targeting Medicare beneficiaries at senior centers, housing complexes, and other community locations.
The companies conducting the scam are claiming that Medicare fully covers a cheek swab test to check for any or all cancers, how a person’s body processes prescriptions, and/or a variety of other genetic or hereditary diseases.
Amy Duff, the executive director of the Branch County Commission on Aging says, “The Burnside Center has been approached by these scam artists three times. We have not and will not schedule this program, because we know it’s a scam.”
The Burnside Center offers older adults of Branch County free Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program (MMAP) counseling and is run by volunteers who are specially trained in Medicare and Medicaid laws and regulations.
“Testing billed to Medicare must be ordered by the beneficiary’s physician,” says the Burnside Center’s MMAP coordinator, Debbie Ambrose.
For more information or to learn more about the Burnside Center’s Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program, please call the Burnside Center at (517)279-6565, or visit burnsidecenter.com.