Are Billions of Medicare Dollars Going to Castro's Cuba?

a reply to: MKMoniker

Now we got a conspiracy !!!

a reply to: sheepslayer247

"Also, there is no evidence to suggest, nor has there been any updates, that the Cuban government was in on the scam."

This may have been what the original article was based upon:

www.homecaremag.com...
(June 2012) CUBAN GOVERNMENT ALLEGED TO BE INVOLVED IN MEDICARE FRAUD
"Three members of Congress have sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) asking for a briefing on allegations that the Cuban government may be involved in HME fraud in South Florida.

"For years there has been growing concern that the large amount of Medicare fraud occurring in the Miami area could be linked to the Cuban government, which is starved for American cash because of an economic embargo and dilapidated economy.

"The letter cited a report last year from Vanessa Lopez of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami. In the report, Lopez quoted a former Cuban intelligence officer who stated that there are strong indications that the Cuban government is assisting with the Medicare fraud, although not directing it."

a reply to: xuenchen

"Now we got a conspiracy !!!"

Only one?

originally posted by: buster2010
Now this is good.

“While the fraud itself is unacceptable, the loss of American dollars to foreign countries because of flaws in our system is totally unacceptable. The American people deserve the peace of mind to know that federal officials are doing everything they can to safeguard taxpayers’ dollars and the Medicare program.”

So it's ok to lose billions to countries overseas as long as it isn't medicare?

Well it shouldn't be medicare of all things. But yea someone somewhere is probably taping into all the gravy train uncle sugar has to offer.

a reply to: MKMoniker

I understand that, but nothing has come from this "allegation" as far as I can find. Actually, this issue is done and over with from what I can tell.

Why are we bringing it back up?

A new wrinkle in massive Medicare Fraud out of S. Florida. Now fraud rings are being run out of S. America and the Caribbean for American ex-patriates/retirees!

www.miamiherald.com...=5-Minute_Herald
GABLES (FLORIDA) FIRM BLEW WHISTLE ON MEDICARE SCAMS RUN OUT OF S. AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN
"Back in January, veteran business executive Susan Rawlings Molina was hired to help turn around a struggling Coral Gables company that managed healthcare plans for Medicare and Medicaid patients.

"Molina's hunch would prove to be correct. In November, federal prosecutors charged six former employees and five others with illegally enrolling beneficiaries with fake Florida addresses so they could receive millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded healthcare while they were living as retired expatriates in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

"Although the company itself was not accused of wrongdoing, a half-dozen former employees, including chief operating officer Pedro Hernandez and marketing director Abram Rodriguez, were charged as members of an international ring that fleeced $25 million from the Medicare and Medicaid programs for the elderly, disabled and poor.

"Dr. Montoya was the medical front man for the one-of-a-kind scam that raked in millions of dollars from Medicare for services provided to retired U.S. citizens living in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, authorities say. A licensed physician, Montoya treated patients in Nicaragua and Miami. In total, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Morales said, about 1,200 expatriates established phony Florida addresses to enroll in Medicare and Medicaid through Florida Healthcare Plus.

"U.S. embassies in both countries issued warnings that IT IS ILLEGAL TO RECEIVE HEALTHCARE SERVICES PAID BY MEDICARE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY except in an emergency.

"Florida Healthcare Plus and the contractors flew some patients to Miami to establish phony addresses and undergo evaluations for Medicare, the prosecutor said. Then, they returned to the Latin American countries, where they were treated by Montoya but also by unlicensed foreign doctors, Morales said."

www.miamiherald.com...=5-Minute_Herald

'BAG MAN' PLEADS TO MASSIVE MEDICARE LAUNDERING SCAM
"But just a couple of months before he was to be married at the legendary Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables this summer, the 27-year-old U.S. citizen was busted for being his big brother’s “bag man,” authorities say. Perez, who once tooled around in a Maserati, faces up to six years in prison at his sentencing in January after pleading guilty last month to conspiring with his now-fugitive brother.

"They are accused of shifting $238 million in stolen taxpayer-funded Medicare proceeds through shell companies in Canada and then into Cuba’s secret banking system. The byzantine scheme, described as a “massive money laundering operation” by a federal prosecutor, is unprecedented because it marks the first U.S. case connecting South Florida’s Medicare rackets to Cuba’s national bank.

"Jorge Perez, a half-brother, is accused of directing the money-laundering operation through his Cuba-licensed remittance company, Caribbean Transfers, from 2005 to 2011. He owns a seaside home in Havana but could be in Mexico, the Dominican Republic or Spain, according to the FBI. Davidson called Jorge Perez’s remittance company, which closed after his indictment in 2012, an offshore Western Union.

"Caribbean Transfers provided clean cash — amassed from Cuban exiles sending money to relatives on the island — to corrupt healthcare operators in Florida, Michigan, Tennessee and New York, according to an indictment.

"Now the baby brother, with his plea agreement to cooperate with U.S. Attorney’s Office, could turn on his older brother. Eduardo Perez’s deal holds him responsible for laundering only between $1 million and $2.5 million, a range that would limit his prison time to a maximum six years. He had faced up to 20 years in prison on the single money-laundering conspiracy plea."