Medicare Scams — The Free Back Brace Call and Other Tricks
Last verified: August 2026
The robocall every Portage County senior gets, sometimes weekly — and five more Medicare-flavored scams. Calm, plain-English, no fear, and exactly what to do.
The one rule that beats every Medicare scam
Medicare itself will never call you first. Not to offer you a brace. Not to verify your number. Not to send you a new card. Not to enroll you in a plan. Not to tell you about "extra benefits." Medicare sends letters — real ones with stamps. If somebody on the phone says they're from Medicare, they're lying.
If you only remember one thing from this whole guide, remember that. The next call sounds different from this paragraph, but the rule still applies.
What's inside the 25-page PDF
- Why Medicare itself will never call you (and what they actually do)
- Why your Medicare number matters — what scammers do with it
- Scam 1. The free back brace / knee brace / glucose monitor / CPAP robocall
- Scam 2. The "new Medicare card" / chip-card trick
- Scam 3. Medicare Advantage open-enrollment season scams (Oct 15 – Dec 7)
- Scam 4. Free genetic testing kits ("cancer screening")
- Scam 5. "You qualify for extra benefits" — grocery cards, utility allowances
- Scam 6. The door-knock and the health-fair booth
- How to verify a real Medicare contact in two minutes
- Reporting fraud — OIG, SMP, and 1-800-MEDICARE
- Reading your Medicare Summary Notice in three minutes
- The first 24 hours if you already gave out your number
- The credit freeze — 20 minutes, free, powerful
- The next 90 days — what to watch for
- Wallet card: "Medicare will NEVER call asking for…"
- Portage County local resources — Senior Center, APS, SHIIP
- For the adult kids — how to bring this up without making it weird
- A script for the next Medicare call (tape to the wall)
The full guide is a 25-page printable PDF with real phone numbers, Portage County resources, and a script you can read out loud the next time one of these calls comes in. Free, no email required, no signup.
Why I made this guide
Last winter my mom Joanne got a call from a nice-sounding woman who said "sweetheart, you qualify for a free back brace through Medicare — I just need to verify your Medicare number." Mom hung up. But she called me afterward to ask if she should have given the number, because her back HAS been bothering her, and the woman did sound official.
That's the problem with these scams. Every part of them sounds plausible. Medicare really does cover some equipment. The caller really does sound friendly. Your back really does hurt. So I wrote down what's actually happening, every flavor of the call I've seen, and exactly what to do — including which numbers to call to report it. No ads. No affiliate links. Just what I'd want my own mother to know.
— Bill Davis
Need help with this?
If a call sounded like Medicare and you're not sure — call me free, anytime. If you already gave out your Medicare number, the first 24 hours matter. The $99 scam-check visit walks through every Medicare-related account at your kitchen table.
Would you rather I just do this for you?
No shame in it — plenty of folks would rather hand it off, and that's what I'm here for. I'll come to your home, set it up right, and make sure it's working before I leave. Flat $99 per visit — no jargon, no upsell, and every visit is 30-day come-back-free.
Not a hardware job? I can often fix it remotely for $49 — a secure screen-share, up to 2 hours, that you watch the whole time and can end whenever (included free for $39/mo Support Plan members, and it counts toward the $99 if it turns out I need to come out).