Hundreds of Medicaid and Medicare recipients have been alarmed by a text message scam, according to health care provider EPIC Health.
On Wednesday, the Michigan attorney general issued a warning.
Watch video report below:
Sarah Lattimore, a Medicaid recipient, said she received one of those text messages on Thursday. For a moment, she thought her visit to the doctor on Friday would be impossible because the text claimed she no longer had Medicaid coverage.
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"Basically saying that my insurance is cut off and I cannot see any doctors for any of my conditions,” Lattimore said.
She said she was instantly concerned.
"I can't pay out of pocket like everybody else can,” Lattimore said.
The text message had a link for her to click and submit personal information to resolve the problem. Instead, Lattimore made the wise choice to call her health care provider, EPIC Health.
She learned it was a scam, and at least 200 other EPIC Health patients received similar text messages from scammers exploiting the federal government shutdown as a way to scare Medicaid and Medicare recipients.
"Today, we saw a huge drop off in the number of our scheduled patients," said Dr. David Wash, supervising physician at EPIC Health.
When asked what implications there are when someone receives and believes the text messages, Wash said, “Delayed care.”
“Basically, what that's going to do is inundate our emergency room, where people are gonna start using emergency room as their primary care, or some people are just not going to go,” the doctor explained. “And what that's going to do is that's going to delay care and cause increase, possibly emergencies, because we have a lot of people who have uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure that need that constant preventative long-term care and management.”
Wash also referenced a state attorney general's warning. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel advises the following:
- Block the text, email or call
- Don't click links or open attachments
- Report the spam
- Delete the text or email from their device
EPIC Health District Manager Cora Fitzpatrick said the health system is also doing its part to clear confusion.
"We reassure them by letting them know, 'Hey, you are covered,'” she said. “When they're calling us (and) when they're coming in, we let them know, ‘You are covered. You can be seen today.’”
This article was written by Darren Cunningham for the Scripps News Group in Detroit.
