Over 100 charged for Medicare scam

WASHINGTON (AP):

Nearly 100 people, including 14 doctors and nurses, were charged for their roles in separate Medicare scams that collectively billed the taxpayer-funded programme for roughly US$223 million in bogus charges in a massive bust spanning eight cities, federal authorities said yesterday.

It was the latest in a string of similar announcements by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder as federal authorities crack down on fraud that's believed to cost the programme between US$60 billion and $90 billion each year. Stopping Medicare's budget from haemorrhaging that money will be key to paying for President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul. Sebelius and Holder partnered in 2009 to increase enforcement by allocating more money and staff and creating strike forces in fraud hot spots around the country.

25 CHARGED IN MIAMI

Miami, long known as ground zero for the complex scams, was again at the centre of yesterday's busts with 25 people charged for their role in various schemes. Authorities allege that five defendants in one scheme bribed Medicare patients for their ID numbers, allowing them to bill for $51 million in home health services that were never given or were not medically necessary.

Nearly 20 people, including two doctors, a physician's assistant and two therapists, were charged in various scams in Detroit. In one case, three posed as licensed physicians and wrote bogus prescriptions for drugs and psychotherapy services totalling US$12 million, the Health and Human Services and Justice departments said in a statement.