Braces, Wheelchairs, Hospice: Three Things Nobody Legitimate Cold-Calls You About

Short answer: Medicare will never call you to sell you anything or visit you at your home. A real brace, wheelchair or hospice referral starts with your own doctor. If the offer starts with a stranger on the phone or at the door, and it ends with a request for your Medicare number, hang up or close the door, then call 1-800-MEDICARE yourself. This is a good season to know the patterns: legitimate Medicare advertising is everywhere from October 1, and scammers borrow the timing.

The script is friendly and specific. You qualify for a back brace, or a knee brace, at no cost to you. Medicare covers it. All they need is your Medicare number to "process" it. A box may even show up. Then Medicare is billed, sometimes for equipment you never needed and sometimes for equipment that never arrived.

This is not a fringe problem. On July 30, 2026, CMS published a notice adding back braces, an off-the-shelf knee brace, an elbow brace and a wrist-hand brace to its list of equipment that needs approval before Medicare pays. Its reasons: improper-payment rates of roughly 40 to 48 percent on arm braces and 35 to 47 percent on leg braces, and enforcement cases involving telemarketing aimed at people with Medicare. Improper payments include honest paperwork errors, not only fraud, but the pattern is clear enough.

The tell: a legitimate brace starts with your doctor, who examines you and writes the order. For many braces and wheelchairs, Medicare requires that your practitioner saw you within the six months before the order, and that list grows on October 28. No one needs to cold-call you to make that happen.

Same playbook, bigger ticket. A caller says you are eligible for a lightweight wheelchair or other mobility equipment, or a delivery shows up that no doctor of yours ordered. CMS's same notice puts improper payments on manual wheelchairs at roughly 22 to 42 percent, and from October 28, 2026 an ultralightweight manual wheelchair joins the prior authorization list.

If equipment arrives that you did not ask for, do not just keep it. Call the supplier's number from the paperwork and write down who you spoke to, then call 1-800-MEDICARE and check your Medicare statement for a claim in your name. That statement is how you find out whether Medicare was billed for it.

This is the one to talk about with parents and grandparents, because it does not look like a scam at all. On June 3, 2026, the FBI issued a public service announcement about recruiters going door to door offering free home services, such as housecleaning or meal delivery, on the condition that the person signs up with one particular hospice. People were enrolled without knowing it, and the hospice billed Medicare.

Why it matters beyond the billing: hospice is comfort care for someone whose doctors certify a life expectancy of six months or less. When you choose hospice, you accept comfort care instead of treatment to cure the illness, and Medicare stops covering treatment intended to cure the terminal illness and related conditions. Being signed up without a terminal diagnosis, or without meaning to be, is not a technicality.

The warning signs the FBI lists include:

• Being told you are in hospice when no doctor has told you that you are terminally ill
• Gifts, gift cards or free services offered for signing up
• Pressure to enroll in care you do not think you need
• Statements showing hospice services you never received

One protection is getting stronger. In a final rule issued July 30, 2026, CMS requires hospices to give everyone who elects hospice a written addendum listing the conditions, items, services and drugs the hospice has decided are not related to the terminal illness, instead of only giving it to people who ask. Read it. It shows you in writing what the hospice will not cover.

These come straight from Medicare's own guidance, and they settle most calls in the first minute:

• Medicare will never call you to sell you anything or visit you at your home.
• Don't give your Medicare card or number, or your Social Security number, to anyone except your doctor or people you know should have it.
• Check your Medicare statements. Compare the dates and services with your own calendar. A service you did not get is worth a call.

A word on this time of year: from October 1 you will see a lot of legitimate Medicare advertising, and from October 15 to December 7 plans can be changed. Scammers borrow that timing. Medicare's marketing rules help you sort it out: plans can't call you unless you are already a member or you gave them permission, and they can't come to your home uninvited to sell anything. A legitimate agent will be glad for you to hang up and call them back at a number you look up yourself.

Every one of these is free. You do not need proof, only what you saw.

• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). Also the number to call if you think someone else is using your Medicare number.
• HHS Office of Inspector General: report online at oig.hhs.gov/fraud/report-fraud.
• The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center: ic3.gov, which the FBI names for hospice fraud.
• Senior Medicare Patrol: free, local help reviewing your statements and reporting problems. Find yours at smpresource.org or call 1-877-808-2468, weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern.
• If you gave out other personal information, such as a bank or Social Security number, report it to the Federal Trade Commission at IdentityTheft.gov.

We are a licensed insurance agency, not Medicare and not law enforcement, so the numbers above are the right place to report anything. Where we can help is the other half: if a call has left you unsure what your coverage actually includes, or a statement shows something you do not recognize, our agents will go through it with you by phone or video, at no cost and with no plan to sell.

Share this with anyone who helps a parent with the phone or the mail. Five minutes of knowing the pattern is worth more than any app.

Related reading: does Original Medicare require prior authorization?, what to check in your Annual Notice of Change, or the 2027 open enrollment dates.