U.S. Arrests 91 In Massive $430 Million Medicare Fraud Bust

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http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/10/05/966831/massive-430-million-medicare-fraud-bust/

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday that the Medicare Fraud Strike Force has arrested 91 people for a variety of Medicare billing fraud schemes across seven U.S. cities. The alleged fraud is massive in both scope and breadth, totaling over $230 million in home care billing fraud and $100 million in mental health billing fraud and involving health professionals including doctors, nurses, and various other care providers:

“Today’s enforcement actions reveal an alarming and unacceptable trend of individuals attempting to exploit federal health care programs to steal billions in taxpayer dollars for personal gain,” said Attorney General Holder. “Such activities not only siphon precious taxpayer resources, drive up health care costs, and jeopardize the strength of the Medicare program — they also disproportionately victimize the most vulnerable members of society, including elderly, disabled and impoverished Americans.”

“Today’s arrests put criminals on notice that we are cracking down hard on people who want to steal from Medicare,” said HHS Secretary Sebelius. “The health care law gives us new tools to better fight fraud and make Medicare stronger. In addition to the arrests made today, HHS used new authority from the health care law to stop future payments to many of the health care providers suspected of fraud, saving Medicare resources and taxpayer dollars from being lost to fraud in the first place.”

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1. I Would Guess That The Fraud From This Arrest Is Just The Tip Of The Iceburg.....nt