This is not good news. Breitbart reported:
"... Mafia figures and other violent criminals are increasingly moving into Medicare fraud and spilling blood over what once a white-collar crime... For criminals, Medicare schemes offer a greater payoff and carry much shorter prison sentences than offenses such as drug trafficking or robbery... Medicare scammers typically make their money by billing Medicare for medical equipment and drugs that patients never receive—and never needed. Some pay homeless people on Los Angeles' Skid Row for Medicare or Social Security numbers to use in fake billing invoices. Others intimidate elderly victims to use their Medicare numbers, federal authorities say."
This shift suggests that many local governments and cities need to stiffen the penalties and prison time for identity theft, Medicare, and related fraud crimes:
"Most Medicare schemes are based in cities such as Miami, Los Angeles, Detroit and Houston... A Medicare scammer could easily net at least $25,000 a day while risking a relatively modest 10 years in prison if convicted on a single count. A cocaine dealer could take weeks to make that amount while risking up to life in prison."
Comments