“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means.”
— Albert Einstein
Holding individuals criminally responsible for their actions or the actions of their corporations in defrauding our government health plans, particularly in cases of HHS Medicare Fraud, has proven more challenging than one might think. There was a time when stealing from the King could lead to severe consequences, even death. Nowadays, many corporations treat civil penalties as just another cost of doing business. One man wants to change that.
As written by Julian Pecquet, “The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee wants the federal government to explain why the conviction rate for Medicare fraud is largely flat despite the millions recently spent to beef it up.” The Democratic Congress appropriated $198 million in discretionary funds for Medicare fraud prevention last year on top of an $11 million increase in mandatory spending. However, the number of criminal convictions fell slightly that year (from 588 to 583), prompting Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) to demand some answers in a letter he sent to the heads of the Health and Human Services and Justice departments.
In his letter, Sen. Grassley states, “The decline in criminal cases filed, the stagnant number of criminal defendants, and the low level of actual convictions raise serious questions about how Department of Justice and Health and Human Services are allocating resources to combat criminal health care fraud.”
I await the response of government officials. Unless a firm example is established, corporations will continue to defraud the healthcare system as a cost of doing business.
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Young Law Group is a nationwide leader in whistleblower representation and has successfully represented numerous clients in some of the nation’s largest qui tam cases for over a decade. For a free confidential consultation, please call Eric L. Young, Esquire at (800) 590-4116 or complete our online form.