Free Health Fairs - BEWARE! they may not be free nor good for you. Part 1

As a medical malpractice lawyer in Ocala and Gainesville and the surrounding areas, I must speak out about this topic.

Set up in shopping malls and advertised in newspapers around the state are doctors who claim to offer a "free health fair" for anyone over the age of 65 and who has a Medicare card.

The doctors will claim to waive any part of the costs that Medicare doesn't pay. Often the doctor has set up in the mall some kind of equipment such as an EKG machine or other non invasive imaging study or possibly a laboratory technician is on site to draw blood to run a series of laboratory tests.

Often doctors will run up medical bills of several thousand dollars that the doctor sends to Medicare.  The doctor will be sure to let you know that there is no doctor-patient relationship created by this "free health fair." Persons often believe that this "free health fair" is a substitute for a traditional doctor-patient relationship and an annual physical.

Persons who participate in this "free health fair" are often unknowingly participating in health care fraud. Doctors need to have reasons for ordering tests. The simple fact that someone has a Medicare card is no justification to order any tests. 

 Please see Part 2 of my experience with this.