Stealing from Medicare

Medicare fraud comes in many shapes and sizes. It can be a tiny stripmall clinic that never seems to serve a patient, but bills Medicare for thousands of non-existent services.

Medicare fraud comes in many shapes and sizes. It can be a tiny stripmall clinic that never seems to serve a patient, but bills Medicare for thousands of non-existent services. Or it can be a huge conglomerate like Hospital Corporation of America (formerly Columbia/HCA), owner of hundreds of private hospitals that once bilked Medicare for a fortune in fraudulent over-billing.

You may recall that Columbia/HCA pleaded guilty to multiple felonies and ultimately paid $1.7 billion to the government in criminal and civil penalties.

And who was the CEO who presided over this Medicare fraud and was forced to resign in 1997 in the midst of the FBI investigation? It was none other than Rick Scott (R), now the ultra-conservative governor of Florida. Ironically, Florida’s voting population includes the highest percentage of Medicare beneficiaries of any state in the nation.