Medicare and Cuba

Attached a link to an article published in today's Miami Herald titled "Feds in Miami: Millions stolen from Medicare wound up in Cuban banking system" which should belong in the world of fiction but instead represents the sad reality of healthcare in South Florida. According to the article federal prosecutors have charged a Miami man, Oscar Sanchez, 46, with engaging in a massive money-laundering scheme and identified him as a key leader in a group that funneled at least $31 million in stolen Medicare dollars into Cuban banks in Havana. While Sanchez was a target of the ongoing investigation, prosecutors say dozens of crooked Medicare providers — who offered HIV and medical equipment services — all took part in the laundering scheme set up for one reason: To hide the money.In all, 70 medical company owners in South Florida submitted more than $374 million in claims to Medicare, and were reimbursed about $70 million. Most of the money was laundered through foreign banks, including Cuba, and the Castro government also extorted Medicare bounty from criminals who are allowed to go travel freely between here and the island nation. I have asked my self the same questions over and over again: how could such a criminal enterprise fed with Medicare money flourish and thrive? Why do Medicare contractors only smell the rat when the rat already left the sinking ship? Why can we not utilize a similar approach applied successfully in Taiwan where all healthcare providers are connected to the Bureau of National Health Insurance through (BNHI) a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for e-claim purposes. Any suspicious claims could be detected in real-time and their payment stopped. Instead, in the US we are acting after the criminals already laundered the money and left the country. This case should serve as (another) example that we have to strengthen the accountability and increase the transparency of the Medicare payment process. Yours Bernd