Florida: Ex-WellCare Officials Face Medicare Fraud Charges (move over, Rick Scott)

[seafan]

After nearly four years after the raids on WellCare's Tampa offices.

Well, well, Rick Scott has plenty of compatriots.


Ex-WellCare Officials Face Medicare Fraud Charges

By KELLI KENNEDY
March 3, 2011

MIAMI | Five former executives of WellCare Health Plans Inc. have been charged in an elaborate scheme to divert millions of dollars designated for Medicaid patients to company profits, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

.....

Prosecutors and a former employee said the company inflated expenditures by submitting fake documents to the state between 2003 and 2007. Under some mental health care contracts, WellCare was paid a flat per-patient fee and was required to spend at least 80 percent of it on care. Any leftover amount beyond 20 percent was to be repaid to the state, but the bogus expenditures allowed WellCare to keep that surplus, according to the indictment.

.....

The company agreed to pay $80 million in 2009 under an agreement that would allow WellCare to avoid criminal prosecution for health care fraud.

.....

The company, which is one of the state's largest Medicaid providers, spent $2.4 million on political contributions in the 2004 and 2006 elections.

More than 95 percent of it went to Republicans, who pushed forward a nationally watched plan that funnels more state and federal Medicaid spending than ever through private companies, which profit most by providing the least care.

'.... private companies, which profit most by providing the least care.'

That sounds familiar.

Fast forward to the health insurance reform cluster@#*& of 2009-2010.




Here's more as the WellCare fraud story first went down.


And, WAIT!

Privatizing Medicaid is one of Jeb Bush's highest priorities! Alas, his pilot program of 2006 imploded from lack of useful data to evaluate it.


Gotta find a sneaky way to keep funneling that money to Republicans, don'tcha know.


This ain't about the health of the people. For these radical conservatives and their enablers, it never has been.




(bold type added)

[Mnemosyne]

1. K&R for more visibility and disgust. n/t