Medicare Fraud
October 23, 2009 10:47 AM
Billions of dollars are being stolen from Medicare each year. Steve Kroft spoke to one man who got caught and explained how he managed to bilk the system. 60 Minutes, Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
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U.S. media has long reported on the culture of corruption in the
Republic of Armenia and its negative effect on the U.S., including the
widespread fleecing of American business people, as well as scams
emanating from Armenia to ?obtain? Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement
dollars and U.S. aid dollars.
This newest transgression of pervasive fraud further must be a wakeup
call to Armenian leadership to address their culture of corruption.
KSS
20 billion should be enough. Seems like it'd be worth FIXING the problem instead of adding confusion and needless change.
If Obama doesn't address this news I will be completely distrusting of him and his office. 20 billion. That's the CARE in health care.
Health Care can never be FREE. Everytime another country says they get free health care it's NOT TRUE. Their taxes are VERY high. It's not FREE.
I find it more interesting that instead of announcing this as a multipart investigation, delving deeply into this very real problem, CBS chose to go for glamour and the glitz by interviewing the FBI and a criminal rather than ask the question as to who actually administers the Medicare Claims.
The government selects independent contractors to administer the Medicare Claims. Who are these companies? What was the criteria for their selection? Under whose guidance were they selected? Who are the elected officials on the oversight panels for these contractors?
Further, what relationship do these contractors have with insurance companies? What relationship do the elected officials have with lobbyists for the insurance companies?
I believe Sixty Minutes has left too many questions unasked.
The contractors hired to administer claims are paying bills with money that is not theirs, in fact the money is ours and, as CBS has pointed out, they are not doing a very good job of safeguarding our funds. If anything it is the Governments task to make these contractors more accountable for their actions.
This all seems to get back to insurance companies. These companies, no matter what we pay them, are not our friends. Nor are the people allowing them to continue dictating healhcare policy in our country.
If CBS is to be the "Trusted" News, take this where it leads, don't stop with the statement that fraud exists, seek out the enablers and expose them.
Perhaps, someone should look into the clerical staff at the agencies that process Medicare claim forms! Maybe if they didn't spend so much time for these minor errors, they would be able to spend time to check for theft!
- by Mitzi100 October 23, 2009 8:28 PM EDT
- I've read the brief article and watched the segment that will be covered this Sunday evening on Medicare fraud. You are only covering the tip of the iceberg. I have worked for a Medicare contractor for 15 years, originally as a fraud investigator, and the DME is only one aspect of the scams. If the media would keep this in front of the general public on an ongoing basis it would help tremendously. Florida, specifically Dade and Broward counties should be a target area for all media resources. Laboratories, physicians, clinics, diagnostics, infusion therapy, community mental health centers, comprehensive outpatient rehab centers, all of them are getting rich off of Medicare funds. DHHS and CMS need to loosen the reigns on the contractors and let them do more. Thank you for doing this story. I hope there are many more to come and more frequently.
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