Ever wonder why Medicare is "Going Broke"?

[Hubert Flottz]

Three men accused in health-care fraud indicted on new charge

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Three men indicted last June for allegedly operating a Charleston-based health care fraud scheme to extract millions in false Medicare claims now face an additional charge.

Sargis Tadevosyan, a native of Armenia, pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated identity theft charge Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Mary E. Stanley.

Tadevosyan, along with Igor Shevchuk and Arsen Bedzhanyan, stole the names and Social Security numbers of several people and used the identities as a front for false Medicaid claims, federal prosecutors allege.

The three already faced charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Shevchuk and Bedzhanyan have not been arraigned on the new charge. Read More...

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201109153933

One town, three thieves, a $3,762,301.00 theft. How many other towns? How many more thieves? Do you understand why we need regulation? You can't trust everybody. Not in Charleston West Virginia, Not in Russia, NOT ON WALL STREET! The GOP cries when we want to regulate, and then when you de-regulate and the thieves strike the GOP cries that the country is going broke.

[Selatius]

1. Fraud is going to exist no matter how Medicare is run, but I would suggest two things.

Dump Medicare Advantage. Instead of outsourcing certain services to outside contractors, do it in-house without the needless profit mark-ups outside contractors place on services. And get rid of Medicare Part D in favor of allowing Medicare to directly negotiate bulk medicine prices with pharmaceutical companies instead of subsidizing people's enrollment in private health insurance plans, who also tack on a profit mark-up on the costs, just for the prescription coverage.

Both of these suggestions would save Medicare billions in an average year.

[w8liftinglady]

4. those are both very sensible ideas that could work.

[Selatius]

7. They're considered too sensible. The drug companies and insurance companies would howl.

And they have the money to lobby politicians. This is a problem. They only favor welfare if it pads their bottom line.

[Lasher]

6. Obamacare will phase out the current 14% overpayment to Medicare Advantage.

And that will be the end of Medicare Advantage, since everything can't actually be done better in the private sector after all.

[Major Nikon]

2. All insurance plans experience fraud

I'm not sure if Medicare experiences fraud to a greater extent than civilian health care plans.

[Lasher]

3. The good news is, they are catching a few of these crooks.

The bad news is, so many of them get away with millions before they are caught.

[NNN0LHI]

5. That and the workers making all our imported stuff don't contribute to Medicare or SS

Anyone who doesn't realize that is a big part of this problem is not dealing in reality.

Don

[jtown1123]

8. Fraud has a very minimal impact. Medicare is in trouble b/c ALL health care is unaffordable here n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

9. Fraud and over billing by doctors are a reality, but...

$10.00 each cotton balls and $15.00 each Tylenol pills in the hospitals have been driving up the cost for decades.

The hospital buys a bulk carton with 50, 200 count bags of cotton balls for 20 dollars and @ $10.00 each, they charge their victims, err...patients $100,000.00 for $20.00 worth of cotton balls. So with medicare paying $100,000.00 for twenty bucks worth of cotton, it won't be long before something has to crash and burn. The doctors blame the democrats and so does the GOP but the real culprit is the providers and the politicians they own.

No wonder Mitch, KY, and the AMA/pharmaceutical company lobbyists have gotten well, with the hospitals charging $10.00 for a 1/16th ounce package of KY jelly that they paid about a nickel each for.