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Vet Exposes Millions in Medicaid Fraud

October 11, 2011

Health care fraud is a multi-billion dollar industry on which the government has vowed to crack down.  The latest case that’s come to light was exposed by a disabled veteran turned whistle-blower who says Medicaid was billed for services he never received.  It turns out the Medicaid contractor Maxim was doing the same thing to hundreds of others around the country, too.  The company agreed to a  $150-million settlement. Click here to watch the story by CNN.

The push to crack down on health care fraud is taking center state in Washington D.C. these days as a way to control spending. A recent editorial in the New York Times took an interesting look at the issue:

There are many ways to defraud taxpayers. For example, a hospital chain can buy drugs at a steep discount and then bill Medicare for high sticker prices. Doctors can bill for procedures that never happened, or for drugs that were supplied to them by pharmaceutical companies free of charge, or pharmaceutical companies can promote a drug for risky, unapproved uses.

The writer goes on to say that recovering billions from those ripping off the system will go a long way in helping to reduce waste and protect services, but it won’t solve the over-riding problem of rising health care costs.  Click here to read more.

Written by Angie Moreschi · Filed Under Featured