Authorities charge 91 in $430 million Medicare fraud

[PorkChopSandwiches]

(Reuters) - Ninety-one people including doctors, nurses and other medical professionals have been charged with committing $430 million in Medicare fraud in seven U.S. cities, authorities said on Thursday.

An investigation coordinated by the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services uprooted alleged false billing schemes involving $230 million in home health services, over $100 million in mental health services and $49 million from ambulance transportation.

Charges range from healthcare fraud and conspiracy to wire fraud, kickback violations, identity theft and money laundering.

The announcement marks the latest case in a concerted crackdown against Medicare fraud by an interagency Medicare fraud strike force.

The strike force was created under the healthcare reform law as a means of curbing waste, fraud and abuse within the $590 billion Medicare program that provides healthcare benefits to nearly 50 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Yeah, not sure what the democrats are all talking about, there's no fraud in the medicare/medicaid system

[PorkChopSandwiches]

And you know this is just the tip of the iceberg

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Oh no doubt, I bet the total fraud in the system is anywhere from 10 to 100 times that amount.

[FBD]

that's just a drop in the bucket, .00001% of the big picture, so we shouldnt bother investigating it.






sorry, I had to make believe I was Deep for a sec

[Acid Trip]

$1 million in staff and equipment could catch a $50-500 million dollar Medicare scheme almost every year. That's a damn good return on investment if you ask me.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

that's just a drop in the bucket, .00001% of the big picture, so we shouldnt bother investigating it.






sorry, I had to make believe I was Deep for a sec

Oh no doubt, I bet the total fraud in the system is anywhere from 10 to 100 times that amount.

Yep

$1 million in staff and equipment could catch a $50-500 million dollar Medicare scheme almost every year. That's a damn good return on investment if you ask me.

All these people are able to steal because the pay system is automated, Im sure it wouldnt be that difficult to write some code that would notify someone when something looks to be fraudulent. Whatever these guys are using to detect this shit manually could easily be written in and reports of who to look into could be sent out daily.