Yesterdays Houston Chronicle had an article just like this, the lady got supplies and a wheelchair she didn't want, need or order. And medicare got the bill. Until she called the Senior Medicare Patrol. It doesn't say how to get ahold of them though. They are 4700 volunteer senior citizens that have saved taxpayers more than $100 million since 1997. "They can tell when something just doesn't feel right to them" said Anne Gray, who works with the SMP program in Santa Ana, Ca. Article goes on to say that scam artist have stolen about $47 BILLION dollars!! in 2009 alone! No wonder we're broke. Chris, it is NOT YOUR FAULT. This is something they do deliberately. The scammers know that the average handicapped/elderly person is not going to be able to read that fine print, the delivery guy acts like he doesn't speak english, acts impatient, they brush off your questions..., they know the nice people are going to believe them and feel bad for making them wait and won't read it, even if they COULD. People like me, they don't mess with. It makes me so mad!! Give me their number and I'll take care of them!!! GRRRRR! Believe me, stick to your guns. They'll back down and go down the road to pull their scams. What did they say in Galaxy Quest? Never back down!!! Tally HO! My mom says I was a pitbull in another life.

My dad had a stroke & needed a wheelchair. We borrowed 1 for a short time from friends.Didn't work out well! Dr. gave us prescription for it since he could not walk without walker & safety belt & someone holding belt & 1 side of walker. They are very unstable if you want to fall off to 1 side,could easily flip it over. So wheelchair was best way to get dad to table & to his easy chair ,bathroom & bed. Not so easy. The wheelchair people came & measured couple of doors & brought a wheelchair, well, couldn't get it through area where bathroom is, too wide of wheelbase. Also when I tried to fold it & lift it so we could get him to dr. when required,they had sent out a heavy 1. So we measured doors & came up with narrower size,dad was only about 140 lbs so could have smaller area in seat without a problem. They got us a Karma Aircraft-Grade Aluminum Alloy frame chair with silver & black & very attractive & I could actually pick it up & get it in trunk of car(very important),easy to get through the house & he could even move it himself down the hall or out of kitchen so "not stuck somewhere", so lot of things to consider.We haven't had any problems with it, just added a thick cushion as he sat in it a lot with a soft light blue baby blanket(type that doesn't bunch up) so if he spilled food or drink could easily change it for another little blanket.(folded twice so about size of seat.) So anyone needing a chair these are the things you need to be aware of. My neighbor had a wheelchair & said I could use it- It wouldn't fit in the trunk of car even with 2 of us trying to get it in there. That's when I knew it was not going to be easy! Good Luck folks & be persistent!

Just thought I would report back that I looked into Bankers Fidelity and for me it is $205 a month for Plan F and $141 for Plan G. Plan F is an "issue age plan" and G is an "obtained age plan". I called the company and a very annoying local insurance agent called me back. Actually she seemed to know her stuff but her manner was annoying. I think AARP is going to be hard to beat. I downloaded and printed a booklet called Choosing a Medigap Policy and it is very helpful. It makes things clear and has great advice about what to ask an insurance agent if you choose to buy from one. It's on the medicare.gov site. Maybe my research will help the next person and it certainly helps me to bounce these questions off all of you!

Here's an good website. I heard a great presentation bu a rep from this office, and I learned a lot. Every case they bust started with a citizen report. Here is a link that might be useful: Medicare fraud