Whistleblower states Rick Scott knew about Medicare Fraud. (click here)
By John Davis, WGCU
FORT MYERS (2010-6-18) -
Two whistleblowers say the new front-runner in the Republican race for governor is lying when he says he did not know about fraud in his former company, the Columbia/HCA hospital chain.
In July 1997, FBI agents raided Columbia/HCA accounting offices in seven states, including Florida. Within days, Columbia’s board of directors ousted Scott, but gave him a nearly $10 million severance package, including stock shares worth $300 million and a $1 million a year consulting contract....
"Medicare Advantage" costs American taxpayers a lot of money. It is Wall Street, not an entitlement. It is Wall Street paid for by entitlement monies. Why would a private Wall Street company not cost more than government administered Medicare; the accounting that goes along with writing the check and ensuring there is no duplication of regulation Medicare coverage is enough to create a separate government department alone. So, why would a private company paid by the USA government not cost more? The question that comes to mind is how did this wayward program survive the Ryan Budget and remain a darling to the GOP?Disaster Of The Day: HCA (click here)
...Yesterday, the nation's largest hospital chain, known until recently as Columbia/HCA Healthcare (nyse: HCA - news - people), pleaded guilty to a variety of fraud charges. It admitted to bilking various government programs and agreed to pay a total of $840 million in fines and penalties. The fraud settlement is the largest in U.S. history, breaking the old record held by Drexel Burnham. Even so, parts of the investigation into the company's practices remain unsettled.
The guilty plea follows a seven-year federal investigation that resulted in charges being filed in five different federal courts in Florida, Texas, Georgia and Tennessee, where HCA is headquartered. The fraud revealed by that investigation ran deep within HCA's way of doing business. Speaking at a news conference yesterday, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said about the plea deal, "It's a simple message--if you overbill the U.S. taxpayer, we're going to make you pay it back, and then some."...
...The company increased Medicare billings by exaggerating the seriousness of the illnesses they were treating. It also granted doctors partnerships in company hospitals as a kickback for the doctors referring patients to HCA. In addition, it gave doctors "loans" that were never expected to be paid back, free rent, free office furniture, and free drugs from hospital pharmacies.
The investigation and the plea is an obvious blow to a company that became a Wall Street darling by promising to bring first-class business practices to the hospital sector, still dominated by not-for-profits. Under former Chief Executive Richard Scott, it bought hospitals by the bucketful and promised to squeeze blood from each one....
"Medicare Advantage" costs the USA 114% of the cost of regular Medicare.
The Medicare Advantage Scam (click here)
Philip Rucker takes a good, hard look at the scam that is Medicare Advantage. Essentially, it works like this: Congress allowed private HMOs to compete for Medicare patients under the rationale that they could offer better service at lower cost than the government. They couldn't. So Republicans in Congress began boosting their payments, to the point that Medicare Advantage gets paid 114 percent what Medicare gets paid to care for a patient. That leads to some fun perks, like free gym memberships and complimentary aspirin and band-aids, which in turn leads seniors to defend the program because they like their perks. But it also means a lot of unnecessary expense for taxpayers....
...economists have estimated that for every extra dollar we pay the program, 14 percent is passed on to seniors and 86 percent goes to profits or other costs. In other words, we're getting only 14 cents of obvious value for every dollar of overpayment....
Given the facts it is completely obvious there is corruption and plenty of it. I think everyone can agree this program needs to be cut by half a billion dollars USA as prescribed in the Affordable Care Act.
Now there is a report slamming the Affordable Care Act for spending $8.3 billion to buffer the effects on Seniors to transition from "Medicare Advantage." Although thoughtful, it may be careful handling the USA cannot afford.
...economists have estimated that for every extra dollar we pay the program, 14 percent is passed on to seniors and 86 percent goes to profits or other costs. In other words, we're getting only 14 cents of obvious value for every dollar of overpayment....
Given the facts it is completely obvious there is corruption and plenty of it. I think everyone can agree this program needs to be cut by half a billion dollars USA as prescribed in the Affordable Care Act.
Now there is a report slamming the Affordable Care Act for spending $8.3 billion to buffer the effects on Seniors to transition from "Medicare Advantage." Although thoughtful, it may be careful handling the USA cannot afford.
...But Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, (click here) says the GAO report suggests that the administration abused its authority, pumping money to the plans to avoid more criticism over unpopular cuts.
Medicare Advantage is a popular private insurance alternative to the traditional health care program for seniors. More than 3,000 private plans serve nearly 12 million beneficiaries, about one-fourth of Medicare recipients. They offer lower out-of-pocket costs, usually in exchange for some limitations on choice.
President Barack Obama's health care law trimmed Medicare Advantage to compensate for prior years of overpayments that had allowed the plans to offer attractive benefits — and pocket healthy profits.
Republicans fiercely attacked those cuts during their successful campaign to take control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections. Seniors, a key constituency of swing voters, responded by backing GOP candidates.
After the election, the administration announced what it called a "demonstration program" to test whether a generous bonus program would lead to faster, broader improvements in quality. (The health care overhaul law had already provided a smaller bonus program only for top-rated plans.)...
The fact that Senator Orin Hatch is facing a very tough primary may speak to the fact he is attempting to cast doubt on the Affordable Care Act and its monies to find better and HONEST options for Seniors through a DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.
The fact that Senator Orin Hatch is facing a very tough primary may speak to the fact he is attempting to cast doubt on the Affordable Care Act and its monies to find better and HONEST options for Seniors through a DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.
"Medicare Advantage" has done a lot of damage to government run Medicare over the years. It removed nearly one-quarter of Medicare recipients from the population of those covered by government Medicare. I suspect "Medicare Advantage" could have the healthier Seniors simply because they are able to make choices that offer perks other programs do not and it shows some degree of health.
The GOP complains chronically about the cost of Medicare, it targets it in their Ryan Budget, yet provides no answers. They criticize without answers. The only answer offered is to starve the program completely by substituting stipends of $7000 per year to Seniors for their insurance costs. They offer no guarantees there will even be sufficient plans that offer at least what the current government programs offer. The attack the Medicare program by highlighting expensive private programs such as "Medicare Advantage." It is more a bait and switch strategy than any real answer to the Medicare cost issue. The GOP does nothing to reduce costs, but, only bails out their responsibility by pinning the problem on Seniors. After all, it is their age that is the problem.
The Affordable Care Act seeks to propose a sincere answer by finding out if an incentive based program will improve the quality of care offered to our Seniors. That is a completely separate issue from the current costs of Medicare. "Medicare Advantage" is not the answer to the higher costs of Medicare. "Medicare Advantage" is adverse and has been proven to be adverse to the costs of Medicare; it actually raises the cost of Medicare to the USA Treasury. "Medicare Advantage" also has the majority of its costs to stockholders and administrators and not services to the insured, except, for health club perks. While we all wish our Seniors longevity and the health to enjoy it, health clubs are nice and a social contact, but, it isn't going to significantly change the outcomes for our aged. Walking in malls will achieve that on a wider scale than memberships to "Senior Sneakers" programs.
The Affordable Care Act seeks to propose a sincere answer by finding out if an incentive based program will improve the quality of care offered to our Seniors. That is a completely separate issue from the current costs of Medicare. "Medicare Advantage" is not the answer to the higher costs of Medicare. "Medicare Advantage" is adverse and has been proven to be adverse to the costs of Medicare; it actually raises the cost of Medicare to the USA Treasury. "Medicare Advantage" also has the majority of its costs to stockholders and administrators and not services to the insured, except, for health club perks. While we all wish our Seniors longevity and the health to enjoy it, health clubs are nice and a social contact, but, it isn't going to significantly change the outcomes for our aged. Walking in malls will achieve that on a wider scale than memberships to "Senior Sneakers" programs.
...GAO, the investigative agency of Congress, did not address GOP allegations that the bonuses are politically motivated. But, its report found the program highly unusual. It "dwarfs" all other Medicare pilots undertaken in nearly 20 years, the GAO said....
Senator Hatch and those like him are grasping at straws. The Affordable Care Act is the first law in 20 years to reign in a runaway health insurance industry and find better ways to bring Medicare costs down while improving the quality of care to our Seniors. The statement by the GAO is irrelevant. It is correct, but, completely irrelevant. To remove these improvements established by The Affordable Care Act is to return to corruption, high costs and poor coverage. That is not acceptable. It should never have been acceptable, but, under Republican leadership, no different than fossil fuels lasted longer than it ever should have; the health care industry has been out of control and out of reach to many Americans.
Hatch is completely wrong. He took the entire issue out of context and spun it to make it fit his agenda of 'getting re-elected."
Senator Hatch and those like him are grasping at straws. The Affordable Care Act is the first law in 20 years to reign in a runaway health insurance industry and find better ways to bring Medicare costs down while improving the quality of care to our Seniors. The statement by the GAO is irrelevant. It is correct, but, completely irrelevant. To remove these improvements established by The Affordable Care Act is to return to corruption, high costs and poor coverage. That is not acceptable. It should never have been acceptable, but, under Republican leadership, no different than fossil fuels lasted longer than it ever should have; the health care industry has been out of control and out of reach to many Americans.
Hatch is completely wrong. He took the entire issue out of context and spun it to make it fit his agenda of 'getting re-elected."
