Watchdog launching probe into marketers, Medicare

A government watchdog is launching a nationwide probe into how marketers may be getting seniors’ personal Medicare information aided by apparent misuse of a government system, officials said Friday.

The audit will be formally announced next week, said Tesia Williams, a spokeswoman for the Health and

Human Services inspector general’s office. It follows a narrower probe that found that an electronic system for pharmacies to verify Medicare coverage was being used for potentially inappropriate searches.