Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, January 28, 2017

THE GOOD LIFE

10

Mountain Views-News Saturday, January 28, 2017 

SENIOR HAPPENINGS

HOW TO GUARD AGAINST MEDICARE FRAUD


Dear Savvy Senior,

What are the steps seniors need to take if they suspect 
Medicare fraud? 

Suspicious Sandy

Dear Sandy,

Medicare fraud costs taxpayers more than $60 billion 
every year, making it one of the most profitable crimes 
in America. Here’s what you should know, along with 
some tips for preventing, detecting and reporting it, if 
it happens to you.

What is Medicare fraud?

In a nutshell, Medicare fraud happens when Medicare 
is purposely billed for services or supplies that were 
never provided or received. Here are a few examples 
of some different types Medicare fraud that’s out there: 

- A healthcare provider bills Medicare for services you 
never received.

- A supplier bills Medicare for equipment you never 
got.

- Someone uses your Medicare card to get medical 
care, supplies, or equipment.

- A company offers a Medicare drug plan that has not 
been approved by Medicare.

- A company uses false information to mislead you 
into joining a Medicare plan. 

What You Can Do

The best way for you to spot Medicare fraud is to 
review your quarterly Medicare Summary Notices 
(MSN) or your Explanation of Benefits (EOB). Be 
on the lookout for things like charges for medical 
services, medications or equipment you didn’t get, 
dates of services and charges that look unfamiliar, 
or if you were billed for the same thing twice. You 
can also check your Medicare claims early online at 
MyMedicare.gov (you’ll need to create an account 
first), or by calling Medicare at 800-633-4227.

 If you do spot any unusual or questionable charges, 
your first step is to contact your doctor or health care 
provider. The charge may just be a simple billing error. 
If, however, you can’t resolve the problem with the 
provider, your next step is to report the questionable 
charges to Medicare at 800-633-4227, or to the 
Department of Health and Human Services Office of 
Inspector General Fraud hotline at 800-447-8477. 

 When you call in, have the MSN or EOB with the 
questionable charges handy because you’ll need to 
provide them with the following information: your 
Medicare card number; the physician, supplier, and/
or facility name where the service was supposedly 
provided; the date the service was rendered; the 
payment amount approved and paid by Medicare; as 
well as the reason you think Medicare shouldn’t have 
paid. As an incentive, if the suspicious activity you 
report turns out to be fraud, you may be eligible for a 
reward of up to $1,000.

 If you need help identifying or reporting Medicare 
fraud or resolving your Medicare billing errors, 
contact your state Senior Medicare Patrol program, 
which provides free assistance. Go to smpresource.org 
or call 877-808-2468 for contact information. 

Protect Yourself

 To help you protect yourself from becoming a 
victim of Medicare fraud, you need to guard your 
Medicare card like you would your credit cards, 
and don’t ever give your Medicare or Social Security 
number to strangers. Also, don’t ever give out your 
personal information to someone who calls or comes 
to your home uninvited to get you to join a Medicare 
plan. Medicare will never call or visit your home to sell 
you anything.

 It’s also a smart idea to keep records of your doctor 
visits, tests, and procedures so you can compare them 
with any suspicious charges on your MSN or EOB.

 For more tips and information on how to 
protect yourself from Medicare fraud, visit 
StopMedicareFraud.gov.

 Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 
5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. 
Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and 
author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! …January Birthdays*

 Gerald Day, Mary Tassop, Judy Webb-Martin, John Johnson, Mary Bickel, Marlene 
Enmark, Shirley Wolf, Ross Kellock, Ruth Wolter, Sue Watanabe, Sandy Thistlewaite, 
Bobbi Rahmanian, Fran Syverson, Shirley Wolff, Judy Zaretzka and Becky Evans. 

* To add your name to this distinguished list, please call the paper at 626.355.2737. 
YEAR of birth not required

...................................................................

ACTIVITIES: Unless listed differently, all activities are at the Hart 
Park House (Senior Center) 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre

 

 

Hawaiian & Polynesian Dance Class: Every Tuesday morning from 10a.m. 
to 11a.m. Join instructor Barbara Dempsey as she leads you in the art of 
Hula. 

Bingo: Every Tuesday beginning at 1:00p.m. Cards are only $0.25 each! Everyone is welcome to 
join. May be canceled if less than five people. 

Free Blood Pressure Testing: 2nd Tuesday of the month from 11a.m. to 12p.m. No appt. is 
necessary. 

Brain Games: Thursday, January 19th, 10:30a.m. - 11:30a.m., improve your memory and 
strengthen your brain. Activities facilitated by Senior Volunteers.

Free Legal Consultation: Wednesday, January 25th from 10:30a.m. to Noon. Attorney Lem 
Makupson is available for legal consultation. He specializes in Family Law, Wills, Trusts, Estates, 
and Injury. Appointments are required by calling 626-355-7394. 

Sing-A-Long: Music brings joy to the soul! Come join us Thursday, January 12th, 10:30a.m. to 
11:30a.m. No music skills needed! 

Senior Club: Every Saturday at the Hart Park House Senior Center. Brown Bag Lunch at 
11:30a.m. 

Chair Yoga: Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:00 to 11:45a.m. with Paul Hagen. Third Monday 
of each month, a variety of balance exercises are practiced. All ability levels are encouraged and 
welcomed. A suggested donation of $5 at one of the classes is requested, but is not required. 

Case Management: Case Management services are provided by the YWCA and provide assistance 
in a variety of areas. Appointments are required and can be scheduled by calling the Hart Park 
House Office at 626-355-7394.

Birthday Celebrations: Every 2nd Thursday of the month at the Hart Park House, share some free 
birthday cake provided by the Sierra Madre Civic Club.

Game Day: Every Thursday starting at 12:00p.m. (Please note the time change.) A regular group of 
Seniors play poker. Other games are available for use. 

Free Strength Training Class: Every Friday from 12:45p.m. to 1:30p.m. with Lisa Brandley. 
The class utilizes light weights for low impact resistance training. All materials for the class are 
provided.

SENIOR EXCURSION - 

February Excursion

PAPA CRISTO’S RESTAURANT & ST. SOPHIA CATHEDRAL 

Date: Thursday, February 2, 2017 

Time: 11:45a.m. to 4:00p.m.
Meeting Location: Hart Park House Cost: $40.00 (Includes Lunch)

Description: In 2011 Papa Cristo’s was awarded Best Greek Restaurant in Los Angeles by Zagat. 
The market features imported wine, goods from Greece and many Ethiopian foods and products. 
Participants will tour the kitchen and enjoy a full lunch at Papa Cristo’s. Afterwards, walk across to St. 
Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, which was built in 1952. Learn about the structure, interior of the 
cathedral and the success story behind the history of this Greek Orthodox Church. Level of walking - 
Medium. Please call the Hart Park House Senior Center 626-355-7394.

Excursion Refund Policy

Notification of the cancellation must be made at least 3 business days before the excursion. A refund will 
only be issued; 1) for medical excuse or 2) if the Department is able to fill the patron’s spot from a waiting 
list. This refund will be issued in the form of a credit which will be applied to the patron’s account with 
the City, less a $13 Cancellation Fee. The credit will remain on your account for one year from the date 
issued and the credit may be used for any program or service offered by the Library & Community 
Services Dept.


KATIE Tse..........This and That

THEY’RE BACK!

Please forgive me for recycling 
articles two weeks in a row now. 
However, last week my dad said 
he didn’t remember the article 
that appeared in the paper, 
so I suspect neither did you! 
Anyway, I was very happy this week to notice the 
annual arrival of my friends visiting from Canada 
(I assume that’s where they’re from) --Canada geese 
at PHS! 

 Have you seen the latest volunteer mascots for 
Pasadena High School? If you haven’t noticed yet, 
two Canada geese have made PHS their winter 
home-away-from-home for several straight years 
now. (Yes, they’re technically called “Canada 
geese,” not “Canadian geese.” For what reason I 
don’t know.) I often saw them 
lounging in the median in the 
morning on my drive to work, 
and they would be there in the 
afternoon as well. This year 
it’s been so cold I wouldn’t 
blame them if they skipped 
southern California all together 
and pushed on to Mexico for 
warmer weather. But no, they’re 
both back, faithful as a geyser. 
Sometimes I’ve only see one, and 
I worry that some terrible fate 
happened to its mate. But then 
I spot the two of them together 
and my fears are relieved. 

 I wonder if PHS knows about them. They must. 
If a passing motorist has noticed them, then I’m 
sure the PHS students and faculty know about 
them, too. I wondered if PHS might adopt these 
geese as their new official mascot. But then again, 
geese aren’t as intimidating as bull dogs, the current 
mascot. On the other hand, however, neither do 
dolphins inspire much fear, but Florida has stuck 
with them as the symbol of their football team for 
quite a long time. 

 Geese are interesting because they’re one of 
the many birds that migrate long distances. I’m 
convinced these two geese are the same ones year 
after year, but many other animal species die off 
between generations in their migratory cycles. For 
example, monarch butterflies travel from Canada to 
Mexico and back, without any one butterfly seeing 
the whole trip in its lifetime. Then there are the 
plovers. These little birds leave their newly hatched 
offspring in Alaska to make a non-stop flight to 
Hawaii. After their young have gained enough 
weight for adequate burnable body fuel, they, too, 
fly from Alaska to meet up with their parents in 
Hawaii. 

 How exactly do these birds know how to navigate 
an ocean they’ve never crossed to arrive at a 
destination they’ve never been to? For the Christian 
the answer is self evident --God programmed 
them to do it, just as He created the human eye to 
function only when all its individual parts work 
in conjunction with each other. 
That’s just one example of a host 
of other miracles we take for 
granted on a daily basis. Now, 
maybe an intelligent Creator 
made all the amazing things we 
see around us, or maybe they 
came out of nothing, as the 
product of random chance. If 
you hold to the latter theory, 
you must recognize that there 
is a greater chance that your 
smart phone was the product 
of a factory explosion than the 
result of years of human creation 
within technological sciences. 
I’m not a scientist by any stretch of the imagination, 
but I know that I don’t have enough faith to be an 
atheist! 

 (By the way, I can’t take the credit for that witty 
line. Frank Turek, a much more clever writer than 
I, coined that phrase, along with another favorite 
of mine in talking about those who doggedly deny 
the existence of God --”There is no God, and I 
hate Him!” You can purchase his book, “I Don’t 
Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist,” and other 
insightful works by Turek and Norman Gisler on 
Amazon.) With all that said, I hope you have a 
great week and that you get to see the geese before 
they return to Canada for the summer.


LUNCH & LEARN

Braille Institute will be offering two free Life Enrichment Classes at the Hart Park House for those who 
are experiencing difficulty with daily living tasks due to low vision and have been diagnosed with an 
eye disease.

Understanding Vision Loss and the Emotional Impact 

Date: Monday, January 23, 2017 Time: 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Signs and symptoms of low vision. What are the most common eye diseases that lead to vision 
loss?What is our Low Vision Wellness Program? Get information on Braille Institute’s Services.

The Business of Living
Date: Monday, January 30, 2017
Time: 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Learn how to identify and separate paper money, coins, accessible banking, writing guides & paper, 
shopping and dining tips; labeling and organizing techniques to identify personal items.


www.mountainviewsnews.com


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com