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Many equipment suppliers guilty of fraud, raising Medicare premiums

Patient Financial Services Weekly Advisor, October 28, 2005

Medicare is an easy target for fraud, say government investigators, and the illegal activity raises taxes and premiums for the 43 million elderly and disabled Americans, the Associated Press reports.

The most common culprits are medical equipment suppliers. Some defraud Medicare; others operate without a proper license and usually have little trouble regaining billing privileges after authorities catch them.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), a watchdog for Congress, said it has identified 1,038 equipment suppliers suspended from Medicare in 2003. As of May 2004, 192 suppliers re-enrolled into the program. The report that the GAO issued does not indicate how much money the improper billing cost the government.

However, there was enough information to encourage the GAO to recommend that Congress consider specific waiting periods before suspended suppliers can regain their billing privileges.

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