This is what's wrong with insurance and medicare

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.

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.

Well, darn...

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

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:

Well, darn...

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

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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

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

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

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

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.

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

No kidding! That scraper really chafes!

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

I am having a hard time with this visual!

I am having a hard time with this visual!

There's got to be an Austin Powers joke in here somewhere

I had to pay for my own pump because it had to be special ordered. The regular (human) one's were far too large, but an outfit out of Tallahassee had an apparatus used for hampsters that fit perfectly. Want to give a big shout out to Erotic Animal Adventures of Tallahassee! Thanks, guys!

The point is, IMO, we are not looking in some of right places to correct our healthcare problems.

When most folks think of Medicare/Medicare/Insurance fraud, they think of individuals, e.g., "welfare queens/kings", bilking the system.
Just as often, maybe more often, it's doctors & health/medical-related companies sloppin' at the public trough.

I had to pay for my own pump because it had to be special ordered. The regular (human) one's were far too large, but an outfit out of Tallahassee had an apparatus used for hampsters that fit perfectly. Want to give a big shout out to Erotic Animal Adventures of Tallahassee! Thanks, guys!

Reminds me of a joke about Georgia Tech students, rodents, and duct tape.

There's got to be an Austin Powers joke in here somewhere

There is. But the credit card receipt proves he paid for his fair and, uh, square.

YouTube - swedish made penis enlarger (austin powers)

When most folks think of Medicare/Medicare/Insurance fraud, they think of individuals, e.g., "welfare queens/kings", bilking the system.
Just as often, maybe more often, it's doctors & health/medical-related companies sloppin' at the public trough.

...and just as often, it is the real Medicare enrollee who is reporting the fraud:

Medicare Fraud: A $60 Billion Crime - 60 Minutes - CBS News

If they're not, it's usually people like 76-year-old Clara Mahoney who catch them.

She began to notice all sorts of crazy things turning up on her quarterly Medicare statements back in 2003 - things that Medicare paid for on her behalf that she had never ordered, never wanted and never received.

"Air mattresses, a wheel chair, urine bag for my leg," Mahoney said, listing some of the unwanted items Medicare was charged for on her behalf. "It was getting so I didn't wanna open up the explanation of benefits because you know, it's like, 'Oh, no. Not again.'"

Mahoney, who says she hasn't been sick in 30 years, began calling Medicare to tell them that someone was ripping them off. But the only responses she received were letters saying that someone was looking into it. The bogus charges are still turning up on her statements.

"And I continued to report and I kept saying, 'Can't you flag my account? You know, I'm not getting any equipment or supplies. Nothing,'" she told Kroft.

They have been "looking" into Mahoney's issue for six years.

If that is news, I guess you will be shocked when you discover that GM (or should I say people buying GM auto) spends $17 million each year on Viagra for GM employees and past employees, according to consumeraffairs.com, with $1,500 of every GM vehicle sold going toward employee health care. Got to love unions.

If that is news, I guess you will be shocked when you discover that GM (or should I say people buying GM auto) spends $17 million each year on Viagra for GM employees and past employees, according to consumeraffairs.com, with $1,500 of every GM vehicle sold going toward employee health care. Got to love unions.

I think this has been posted before during the take over.

What people have to remember is that there are a lot of Medicare providers who are out there providing great care at a great risk. You can do everything right but because of all the people and providers out there who are ripping off the system we all have to suffer. Medicaid is a whole other story. It is very complex and if you have never had to negotiate this you can't imagine the exposure. We need to be careful what we support because we may become a society with no providers of any health care. Andy A knows what I am saying.

I have to say that Medicare was great for my mother in the several years prior to her death. Medicare was much easier to deal with--and much fairer, I thought--than the private for-profit health insurance company the rest of the family was dealing with.

I have to say that Medicare was great for my mother in the several years prior to her death. Medicare was much easier to deal with--and much fairer, I thought--than the private for-profit health insurance company the rest of the family was dealing with.

It seems a mixed bag. I have a close familiy member who has lung cancer. Medicare has been little to no help, while his private insurer has been there every step of the way.

Republicans in both the Senate and the House have introduced bills that would eliminate the new Independent Payment Advisory Board, which is supposed to come up with ways to rein in excessive Medicare spending ? and stiffen Congress?s spine.

Starting in 2014, whenever Medicare?s projected spending exceeds a target growth rate, the board of 15 members (drawn from a range of backgrounds, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate) will have to recommend reductions in payments to doctors and health care providers to bring spending back to target levels. These recommendations would become law unless Congress ? not known for its political courage in such circumstances ? passed an alternative proposal that would achieve comparable savings.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/opinion/22sun1.html?hp