ATLANTA — In a story you’ll only see on Channel 2 Action News, seniors say they’ve been having issues with being recruited for fitness programs at rec centers, only to be billed.
Channel 2’s Eryn Rogers spoke exclusively to one of those seniors and saw her bills.
“I said $10,000, I couldn’t believe it!” Maggie McCullom said. “They said if I did this Fitbit for 6 months, but it went on and on, that I would win $10,000.”
That promise is what made McCullom sign up to be a member of Our Community Health Systems.
The Atlanta Senior Olympian accepted and completed the challenge.
But months passed, and still no money.
“Finally, I said, ‘This got to be fraud. How are you gonna pay $10,000 for just walking?’
Then she got a bill from her insurance company.
“When I picked up this bill that I was mailed from my insurance company, One of them said $1,800,” McCollum said. ”I can’t tell you what REM, MT, MNN, ER. I don’t know what that is, and they did it a couple times."
McCullom told Rogers she gave her insurance information when she signed up for the Fitbit challenge, but had no idea she was being charged.
“Then one of them charged me for back problems...And they never prescribed any medicine,” McCullom said.
She doesn’t have back problems.
Rogers also spoke to Debra Johnson over the phone, who said she also got billed for services as well. When she spoke to her insurance company to figure it out, she said the insurance agent told her “$306 would be charged to my insurance every month for the rest of my life, until the day I die.”
When Rogers looked at the bills, she saw the charges to a Dr. James Rogan.
She went by an address listed for him, but an employee said nobody by that name worked there.
Rogers ended up getting ahold of him on the phone. He said he didn’t know his name was being used for billing and that he hadn’t worked with OCHS in at least five years.
A source gave Rogers a letter coming from Humana Insurance’s legal team, accusing OCHS of improper billing under Dr. Rogan and another doctor of nearly $2 million.
Rogers contacted Humana and the law firm several times about the letter before Humana responded that they couldn’t comment on the issue.
Rogers spoke to the owner of OCHS, Victoria Bells, last month about employees not being paid.
During that conversation she said, “I’ve been working with the insurance companies.”
And when Rogers asked her about the improper billing, she said over text they were false allegations.
Senior ambassadors, who were part-time employees at the company, said they didn’t know people were being billed incorrectly and they haven’t seen a paycheck since December.
“We would have bootcamps, and anyone who came in the door, we would get their insurance and sign them up,” former employee Gail Brown said.
McCullom said she wants to raise awareness.
“They’re robbing us senior citizens,” she said. “I’m not talking about a few dollars. I’m talking about thousands.”
Bells said they have an outside billing agency.
OCHS is still holding events. They had one earlier this month at their new location in Alpharetta.
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