Undocumented Immigrants draining the Social Services? A lie or a lie.

I had seen more often the tip of the Iceberg when Hospitals, Corporations, Vendors and Suppliers has been the most abusives of the Medicare and Medicaid System were money is flying out the pocket of taxpayers as well as Legal and Undocumented Immigrants.

DME DEFENDANTS SENTENCED IN MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR MEDICARE FRAUD SCHEME

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, Christopher B. Dennis, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Miami Regional Office, and Bill McCollum, Attorney General, State of Florida, announced that defendants Mabel and Abner Diaz , of Miami Lakes, FL were each sentenced today to fourteen years’ incarceration for conspiracy to commit health care fraud and health care fraud. Defendant Suleidy Cano , of Hialeah, FL was sentenced to eleven years’ incarceration for conspiracy to commit health care fraud and aggravated identity theft.

According to the parties' joint factual statement in support of the plea, the fraud involved durable medical equipment (DME), which is equipment that can be used in the home on a repeated basis for a medical purpose. Where DME is prescribed or ordered by a physician, an authorized Medicare provider who supplies the equipment to a Medicare beneficiary may be eligible for reimbursement by Medicare.

Abner Diaz and Mabel Diaz co-owned and operated All-Med Billing Corp., a Miami medical billing company, where Cano worked as a biller. All-Med submitted claims to Medicare on behalf of suppliers who purportedly provided DME to Medicare beneficiaries. All-Med submitted $419,935,692.74 in fraudulent claims for DME purportedly provided to Medicare beneficiaries by 85 DME suppliers. These claims were for equipment that not been ordered by physicians or delivered to the beneficiaries as claimed. As a result of these claims, Medicare paid the suppliers approximately $148,586,919.99.

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and the Office of the Attorney General, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Marc Osborne and Joseph Shumofsky