Ninety-one people have been charged in seven cities in a series of arrests carried out by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. The suspects are accused of participating in various fraud schemes involving more than $429 million in false billing.
According to officials at the Department of Justice, the suspects allegedly billed Medicare for treatments that were improper or unnecessary. In some cases the government was billed for treatments that were not even provided. Doctors and nurses are among those arrested.
Arrests were made in Houston, Dallas, Brooklyn, Baton Rouge, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami. The largest crackdown occurred in South Florida where 33 people were rounded up and charged in connection with health care fraud cases totaling more than $230 million. In Texas, the president of Riverside General Hospital in Houston and his son were also charged.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius added that new provisions in President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act made it more difficult for fraud to be committed.
This fraud sweep is the latest in a series of raids conducted since 2007 by the strike force. Over the past five years 1,480 suspects have been arrested in Medicare fraud cases totaling $4.8 billion dollars.
THIS is how you save the American taxpayer money, not by slashing necessary or beloved social programs.
By the way, just for context, the entire amount provided to PBS annually is only 300 million.
Florida? Imagine that. I'm surprised Gov. felon Scott isn't among them, but maybe his 'wife's' company is. I seem to remember that he is very knowledgeable about scamming Medicare. Good for Obama. This may shut down the remaining wild parties under the fireworks from last Wed. Maybe. Or more likely, it will be because of some phantom GOP policy that they forced Obama to follow. Or it will be ignored completely by Rush and Fox, and thus the Romneyites will never even know.
ReplyDeleteBefore Hillary decided to run for POTUS in ´08,´ her top aide gave an interview and said: ¨Forty percent of the people are for her, and forty percent are against her. She gets it. The race is about the rest.¨
ReplyDeleteI am part of the ¨rest.¨ The ¨rest¨ concluded 46% to 42% Romney won the debate. Why? Because he did. Don´t kid yourselves. He did. That doesn´t mean the ¨rest¨ will vote for Romney.
Stale bread crumbs for the pigeons.
President Obama locked up this election before he took the Oath of Office. He did it sitting in his office in Chicago when he selected his transition team.
Don´t believe me? Listen to your inherited wisdom, your instincts. Your gut instincts are correct: Follow the money.
Watch the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Anonymous4:07 PM
DeleteWhat in the world are you talking about?? This thread is about Medicare fraud arrests...whatever you are trying to say makes NO SENSE. Please hang up and try again! LOL!!
About 25 years ago a local pharmacist was caught billing for drugs he never dispensed. He went to prison for about 10 years. Later another local, living in a multimillion dollar home was arrested for overcharging supplies to nursing homes. They arrested his wife too, accessory to the crime. She did his billing. They even had a heli-pad, I guess for a quick get-a-way! He had sold in many states. They both got several years. She was under house arrest at a neighbors home and she kept sneaking out at night. They caught her. I was glad to see her go to jail to await her court appearance. The kids were raised by the grandparents. Wonder who will raise the Palin kids (Piper and Trig :-) ) if they ever take Sarah and Todd to court? It took them years to catch these Medicare Fraud cases. But catch them they did!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that FN isn't mentioning it - or not. More interesting that HP - the "liberal" site - has nothing either. Arianna is really a sell out when it comes down to the real truths.
ReplyDeleteThis is just the tip of the iceberg. The ACA is what President Obama originally alluded to in his inauguration speech, it isn't about big or small government, it's about SMART government.
ReplyDeleteInstead of slashing line items (real people's lives) on some bill, this law has built into it the means to smart stewardship of our government dollars, slashing the fraud built into the system and ignored by idiots like Bush AND Romney.
Romney wants to make ACA a state issue, which will fail, because people can move to another state with better programs. The ACA, when fully implemented, will run leaner and save money in the long run.
Romney's a fraud, can we cut him out as well?
Don't boo - VOTE!
There is fraud by good reputable docs as well. I was sickened to overhear my surgeon tell his office to bill for "one hour outpt pre-op consultation".
ReplyDeleteThe amount of time I spent with this surgeon discussing removal of a benign neck tumor : 11 (eleven) minutes.