This is what's wrong with insurance and medicare

[Alicia Leonard]

Florida Businessmen Charged With Bilking Medicare For Penis Pumps


Oh dear, the scams allegedly perpetrated on the Medicare money pinata just get more and more creative.
Two entrepreneurs in South Florida went way too far in billing Medicare for penis pumps to help impotent men, according to charges by the U.S. attorney in Miami.
The men run companies called Charlie Rx and Happy Trips that submitted $63,000 in bills for, er, male vacuum erection systems that resulted in more than $28,000 in payments by Medicare, the Miami Herald reports.
Citing indictments returned earlier this year, the government says the two companies fraudulently billed Medicare for nearly $1.9 million for all sorts of medical equipment and medicines. They received about $735,000 in federal payments.


Florida Businessmen Charged With Bilking Medicare For Penis Pumps : Shots - Health News Blog : NPR

But, when I had insurance, they would not pay for BC pills:angry:

 

[Andy A]

Florida Businessmen Charged With Bilking Medicare For Penis Pumps


Oh dear, the scams allegedly perpetrated on the Medicare money pinata just get more and more creative.
Two entrepreneurs in South Florida went way too far in billing Medicare for penis pumps to help impotent men, according to charges by the U.S. attorney in Miami.
The men run companies called Charlie Rx and Happy Trips that submitted $63,000 in bills for, er, male vacuum erection systems that resulted in more than $28,000 in payments by Medicare, the Miami Herald reports.
Citing indictments returned earlier this year, the government says the two companies fraudulently billed Medicare for nearly $1.9 million for all sorts of medical equipment and medicines. They received about $735,000 in federal payments.


Florida Businessmen Charged With Bilking Medicare For Penis Pumps : Shots - Health News Blog : NPR

But, when I had insurance, they would not pay for BC pills:angry:

There is no doubt that much of this is fraudulent and monies should be returned and someone should probably spend some time in jail.
Now jump ahead to Medicaid. Do you think there are fraudulent claims there,too? How about the V. A.? Tricare? Blue Cross, Blue
Shield? The mobile chair companies? The point is, IMO, we are not looking in some of right places to correct our healthcare problems. Additionally, if you truly think the new healthcare recently passed by Congress and signed by the President, is going to improve the situation, I feel you are about to be sadly mistaken. The government's track record at running large social programs is suspect, to say the least. Oh, I am sorry they wouldn't pay for your BC pills. You are right, they should pay. You have every bit as much right to have your "fun" as the guys on Viagra do.

 

[Alicia Leonard]

There is no doubt that much of this is fraudulent and monies should be returned and someone should probably spend some time in jail.
Now jump ahead to Medicaid. Do you think there are fraudulent claims there,too? How about the V. A.? Tricare? Blue Cross, Blue
Shield? The mobile chair companies? The point is, IMO, we are not looking in some of right places to correct our healthcare problems. Additionally, if you truly think the new healthcare recently passed by Congress and signed by the President, is going to improve the situation, I feel you are about to be sadly mistaken. The government's track record at running large social programs is suspect, to say the least. Oh, I am sorry they wouldn't pay for your BC pills. You are right, they should pay. You have every bit as much right to have your "fun" as the guys on Viagra do.

I don't have time to search for the link, maybe someone can, but the task force to implement hunting down fraud is a part of the new health care package and have been busting people left and right. I think there is huge potential for fraud across the board where medical billing is concerned.

 

[Will B]

Well, darn...

That replacement pump is going to be hard to come by! ;-)

 

[scooterbug44]

1% of the money spend on Medicare goes to fraudulent claims.

And don't get me started on paying for Viagra, penis pumps, etc. but not an inexpensive preventative prescription (it works for birth control too) that can save tens of thousands in surgical procedures and various complications for myriad female issues. :roll:

 

[LuciferSam]

Well, darn...

That replacement pump is going to be hard to come by! ;-)

penis pump items - Get great deals on Health Beauty, Clothing, Shoes Accessories items on eBay.com!

 

[Alicia Leonard]

Here's a similar article as the one I was thinking of. It's not to debate the new health care, because I will not debate it anymore, but to supply info on how fraud is now being tackled.

"Authorities said busts carried out this week in Miami, New York City, Detroit, Houston and Baton Rouge, La., were the largest Medicare fraud takedown in history - part of a massive overhaul in the way federal officials are preventing and prosecuting the crimes.
In all, 94 people - including several doctors and nurses - were charged Friday in scams totaling $251 million. Federal authorities, while touting the operation, cautioned the cases represent only a fraction of the estimated $60 billion to $90 billion in Medicare fraud absorbed by taxpayers each year.
For the first time federal officials have the power to overhaul the system under Obama's Affordable Care Act, which gives them authority to stop paying a provider they suspect is fraudulent. Critics have complained the current process did nothing more than rubber-stamp payments to fraudulent providers.
"That world is coming to an end," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told The Associated Press after speaking at a health care fraud prevention summit in Miami. "We've got new ways to go after folks that we've never had before."

Medicare Makes Biggest Fraud Busts in History | TheLedger.com

 

[Lynnie]

I ain't never heard of a penis pump????

 

[Alicia Leonard]

I ain't never heard of a penis pump????

Ever had a flat bicycle tire it's like that.

 

[LuciferSam]

Ever had a flat bicycle tire it's like that.

I'll bet it's a vast improvement over the patch kits with the rubber cement and the metal "cheese grater" scraper.