Medicare Drug Program Corrupted : Waste & Criminals At Work

Drug fraud is just one more reason to shrink the size of the government that has bright corruption to new levels. If the congress cannot reduce and stop the increasing nightmare of a huge and out of control government, the waste and chaos will not only continue but be our down fall.

The prevailing ideology of progressive socialism that has ruled our government for decades is now the central focus of the people, as shown by the election of Republicans to the senate. Know this as well, it always seems when the democrats have done their worst to the country, the people turn to the Republicans to fix the problems.

And when the country is back to some kind of prosperity, usually about after 8 years, the people decide it's time for failure to return by voting out the Republicans. Why? Easy, the entire time they Republicans are working to solve problems, the democrats and their friends in the media attack them as failures.

Again, why do the people not see this from the democrats? Where's the justice?

Medicare Paying for Drugs for the Dead
Source: Richard Alonso-Zaldivar, "Medicare paid for drugs after patients had died, report finds," PBS Newshour, October 31, 2014.

November 11, 2014

The Inspector General within the Department of Health and Human Services has released a new report revealing a bizarre rule within the Medicare program: it covers payment for prescription drugs filled up to a month after a patient has died.
As a result, Richard Alonso-Zaldivar at PBS News explains, Medicare has paid for drugs for the dead:

• Analyzing HIV and AIDS drugs dispensed in 2012, the agency compared drug claims with death records, finding that the program paid for drugs for 158 dead beneficiaries.
• Taxpayers paid $292,381 for these drugs, or $1,850 per beneficiary.
• A total of 348 prescriptions for these illnesses were dispensed. Of those, half were filled over a week after the patient's death.

Where did the drugs go? According to Alonso-Zaldivar, they could have been diverted to the black market. He notes that HIV drugs are incredibly expensive, with a common drug costing $1,700 each month. Indeed, in a recent study, NCPA Senior Fellow Devon Herrick wrote about drug fraud within the Medicare program, noting the potential of expensive drugs like HIV medication to be diverted to the illicit market.

Drug fraud, especially for painkillers, is a problem within Medicare. He urged Medicare Part D to allow for a "lock-in" program, which would allow drug plans to restrict patients' ability to access certain classes of drugs from more than one doctor or one pharmacy.