Miami Medicare fraud cases has overtaken the number of drug trafficking cases in Miami. Medicare fraud is now estimated to cost the U.S. healthcare system approximately 60 billion dollars a year and has become one of the profitable crimes being committed in the United States. In an effort to put an end to the extensive fraud, federal and state law enforcement agencies around the country, including the Medicare fraud task force, are scouring the clinics and pharmacies located in low-end strip malls looking for violators. Miami Medicare fraud lawyers have realized a steady in flow of new clients being investigated or prosecuted by state and federal authorities.
Although Miami has become a haven for those committing Medicare fraud, other large cities have become the home to major healthcare schemes to defraud. In Detroit, Michigan, the FBI recently arrested 53 people allegedly involved in a 53 million dollar fraud. Included in those arrested were doctors, pharmacists and clinic owners. All those arrested for their involvement in the network, were involved to some extent for billing Medicare for unneeded or unnecessary medical procedures or devices. The majority of those arrested have been released on bail set at their initial appearance or bond hearing.
In another recent case, a Los Angeles shelter recruited hundreds of homeless people to reside in their facility by offering them room and board, and sometimes cash or drugs. The proprietors of the shelter billed Medicare tens of millions of dollars for healthcare services that were never provided. While federal and state governments have thrown millions of dollars at combating Medicare fraud, it seems as if they are putting their thumb in the dike. The Medicare oversight committees must do their job to curb the fraud before it gets started.
A federal prosecutor reported to the media that Miami Medicare fraud cases now exceed Miami cocaine trafficking and marijuana trafficking cases. Though Medicare fraud cases have increased in the recent years, as a Miami criminal lawyer, it is hard to believe that these cases now exceed the number of drug trafficking crimes committed in Miami-Dade County. Anyone being investigated for Medicare fraud, should immediately contact a Miami Medicare fraud lawyer prior to speaking to law enforcement officers. Any information provided during what appears to be a harmless statement may seal a person's fate.
Medicare Fraud: One of the Most Profitable Crimes in U.S., Kaiser Health News, October 26, 2009.
