Originally published July 27 2005
Medicaid abuse, fraud costing New York billions, report shows
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
According to Newsday, abuse and fraud could be causing New York City's Medicaid program to hemorrhage billions of dollars, and the New York Times investigation that uncovered these facts also found numerous examples of misspent funds that the state had failed to examine.
An investigation by The New York Times, described in Monday's editions, found numerous examples of misspent funds that the state had failed to examine under the $44.5 billion program.
In one instance the paper uncovered by analyzing records obtained under the state Freedom of Information Law, a Brooklyn dentist allegedly created the state's biggest Medicaid dental practice within 12 months of its opening and claimed to have performed as many as 991 procedures a day in 2003.
The state health department in October 2003 referred the dentist to the attorney general's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for investigation, department spokesman Bill Van Slyke said Monday.
In another case, a Brooklyn doctor allegedly wrote prescriptions for $11.5 million worth of Serostim, a very expensive synthetic growth hormone often used to treat AIDS patients.
After the scam was initiated, the state's bill for Serostim prescriptions soared from $7 million in 2000 to $50 million the following year.
The state has not targeted the doctor in a criminal inquiry.
Van Slyke said the health department in 2003 tried to expel the doctor from the Medicaid program but he received a court order temporarily barring the state from doing that.
New York state's Medicaid program spends about $10,600 more than any other state on each recipient.
The newspaper report, quoting experts, estimated that between 10 percent and 40 percent of the program's spending may be lost to fraud and abuse annually.
"It's like a honey pot," John Meekins, a former senior state Medicaid fraud prosecutor told The Times.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., announced Monday that she and Sen.
Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., would propose federal legislation to combat such fraud.
Other U.S. and state lawmakers called for a federal investigation into the New York program.
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