And the companies that scam Medicare are happy to recommend doctors to prescribe things so they can sell their stuff.
The ad I see most often on late night TV is for the Pos-T-Vac. I googled the company name and found this:
Medicare-claims fraud suspected for penis pumps
By Stephen Dinan
The Washington Times
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
A new report by federal auditors says a Kansas-based company may have paid out as much as $4.2 million in potentially fraudulent Medicare claims for penis pumps, and the auditors are asking the company to refund the government the money.
The Health and Human Services inspector general said it sampled 100 claims made with Pos-T-Vac, the Dodge City-based penis-pump manufacturer, and found improprieties in more than half of payments for what are known as “male vacuum erection systems.”
The errors ranged from the company’s failing to maintain proof that it delivered the pumps to customers, to one instance when the physician’s approval order wasn’t even signed by the doctor.
Together, those claims from the small sample amounted to $18,007 in billings, and when multiplied across Pos-T-Vac’s entire set of 28,088 claims, the potential for fraudulent payments came to more than $4.2 million in 2008 and 2009, the auditors said.
Read more:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/19/kan-company-suspected-42m-medicare-fraud-penis-pum/#ixzz2qLEC6RwQ
The Scooter Store used similar techniques for their scams and shut down last year after Medicare stopped paying for their products altogether:
The SCOOTER Store shutting down after federal scrutiny, CBS probe
September 14, 2013, 8: 54 AM
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas A Texas-based company that sells wheelchairs and motorized scooters to people with limited mobility announced Friday that it is shutting down for good, following federal scrutiny over its advertising and billing and a CBS News investigation that shed light on questionable practices.
The SCOOTER Store, which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year, plans to phase out operations and furlough its remaining 370 employees and managers, the San Antonio Express-News reported, citing a company statement. The decision came from the company's board of directors.
The company's announcement comes after the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified The SCOOTER Store that it would lose its federal contract for reimbursement of the sale of its products, effective Oct. 26. The federal decision "effectively eliminates" its ability to sell its assets in a Chapter 11 reorganization, so it will liquidate, the company said in its statement to the Express-News.
The SCOOTER Store was one of the industry's leading companies, with TV ads promising freedom and independence to people with limited liability. But critics say the ads convince some seniors that they need a scooter to get around when many don't.
more:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-scooter-store-shutting-down-after-federal-scrutiny-cbs-probe/
Both types of devices have their uses and are needed by some people, but the ads convince people that are marginal that they need them, then push doctors to sign off on them. Then they inflate the charges to Medicare or insurance far beyond what the devices should cost.
I used a scooter for a short while before my knee replacement (mostly when I was attending a seminar at a large hotel). I bought it used from a man who had gotten it from Medicare. At the point I bought it, he could walk better than I could but he said he was being pushed to get a powered wheelchair but couldn't get approved as long as he still owned the scooter. That sounded a bit like a scam to me!
As I said, I am NOT criticizing the people who need the devices, just the companies that push the sales to those who don't really.
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