Medicare Fraud

Mark Mandell

It takes nothing more than Googling the words “Medicare Fraud Strike Force” to realize our country has a growing problem; Medicare fraud.

Since their creation in early 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force (MFSF) has placed charges on over 1,190 individuals who falsely billed the Medicare program for over $3.6 billion. MFSF operates in over nine districts, including Michigan where instances of Medicare fraud are far from rare.

In January, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a complaint against Universal Imaging, Inc., a Michigan company that fraudulently received over $1.56 million in Medicare kickbacks (accounting for over 90% of their business).  

More recently in March, three Detroit-area clinic owners pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Estimates based off court documents suggest the three clinics billed Medicare for over $5.4 million during the course of their scheme. Each defendant faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

With dollar amounts easily climbing into the millions and no end in sight, Medicare fraud certainly deserves our attention.

To learn more please visit:

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/March/12-crm-323.html

http://www.justice.gov/usao/mie/news/2012/2012_01_06_universal_image.html

Michigan Cracks Down on Auto Fraud

A few weeks ago, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill into law that takes aim at reducing Auto Insurance Fraud. This type of fraud has been a growing problem in Michigan and can include anything from staged auto accidents, to inflating insurance claims with phony damage estimates and medical expenses.
The new law makes it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine, to act as or employ a runner, capper, or steerer (slang terms for those typically involved in auto insurance fraud).

By implementing the law, Michigan hopes to put money back in taxpayers’ pockets. State residents are ‘footing the bill’ for auto insurance fraud because these instances lead to higher insurance rates; an expense all of us know too well.

More information on the issue can be found at: http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.aspx?id=334817&type=333754

Time to Stop Michigan Fraud

Jim Fausone

All you have to do is read the papers or online local news to realize that fraud, waste and abuse in government contracting and programs is running rampant.  I will leave it to the psychiatrists to figure out why human nature leads people to take advantage of government programs.  But the way to stop it is allow anyone to sue and recover from the wrong doer.  This is one state's efforts.

An overhaul of the State of Washington’s Medicaid fraud recovery efforts to cut waste and recover taxpayer dollars was passed by the Legislature. Experts from the National Conference of State Legislatures estimate the cost of Medicaid fraud accounts for 3 and 10 percent of total Medicaid expenditures. Washington spent $8.5 billion on Medicaid last year only to recover less than $20 million in fraud. At its most optimistic, the state’s recovery rate tops out at less than 1 percent so more simply has to be done.

Michigan has a similar statute which is limited to Medicaid fraud.  Let’s open it up and let citizens sue on all government programs.  You can read more about Washington State's efforts at:  http://www.maplevalleyreporter.com/news/142212725.html