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Woman, 72, charged for pregnancy test

NEW YORK, June 1 (UPI) -- A New York woman, 72, says thieves used her identity to bill Medicare for nearly $50,000 in fraudulent charges, including a pregnancy test and tests for men.

June Smith said her stolen information also was used to bill Medicare for semen analyses and prostate exams in Florida, California, Arizona and New Mexico, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

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In all, Smith's Medicare number was used to bilk the government out of nearly $50,000 during three years, Smith said. She said she alerted Medicare to all of the sham billings.

"It's just people behind a desk, I understand," Smith said. "But when you pay for testing of the male anatomy on a woman, I don't know what kind of dumbbells they're hiring."

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services was working to resolve the case, agency spokesman Peter Ashkenaz said.

An estimated $60 billion in federal healthcare money is stolen through fraudulent billings annually, federal officials said.

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