DaVita Dialysis Massive Medicare fraud
In the United States, Medicare Fraud cases have tremendeously increased. People are extracting money from the government through health care reimbursement which they are not entitled. In 2010, $47.9 billion was spent on Medicare “improper payment”. This directly affect the citizens who are forced to compensate the money through taxes. In 2007, a company DaVita Dialysis, was accused of Massive Medicare Fraud. DaVita is the one of the largest Kidney healthcare Company in the USA, owning 3’000 clinics. The company makes over 800,000,000 over bailing the government through medical fraud. These allegations were made by two of DaVita medical personnels, Daniel Barbir, former DaVita’s clinica director and Dr. Alon Vainer, a medical director, who saw the act as unethical. This essay anslyzes the crimes made by DaVita, why the government is the easy target for criminal, how medical personnel involved in frauds are always pardoned, and lastly, why their chances of detention are to small.
DaVita Dialysis committed a serious crime. It intentionally threw away valid medicines, for example, Venofer. This allowed the company to increase the medicine sales and reap more profit from Medicaid and Medicare, governmental programs for the poor and the elderly respectively. The two programs are their principal. If a customer. If a patitient requires 100 grams of Venofer, the doctor would give 50grams and throw the remaining 50 grams on the trash, and later open up other Venofers which they billed the government. One of the accusers lawyer, Marlan Wilbanks, said. "It doesn't take a graduate degree to understand what's going on here.” "This is just dishonesty." The company’s Attorney, Kim Rivera denied the allegations saying even the government found the company innocent, and that the doctors actions were medically appropriate.
Over the years, frauds amin target is the government. The government owns huge amounts of money from tax payers which makes it hard to notivce and trace lost amounts. The US government does not notice the loss in the Medicare revenues, despite the huge amount billed by DaVita. Criminals reap huge amounts of money before they are caught, and when caught they can use that money to bail themselves out.
When caught, Corrupt medical personnel escapes the government’s punishment through corruption. They use the money reaped from the government to bribe the authorities. The medical executives pay the heavy fines imposed on them and businesses continue as usual. This leaves the poor citizens to continue suffering as the economy slowly deteriorates. Pat Burns, a Taxpayer Against Fraud, in the video says that
Questions to Consider in Your Essay
1- Describe the crimes portrayed in the
videos.
2- Why is the government such an easy
criminal target?
3- How do corrupt medical personnel
elude capture?
4- Why is there such a small chance of
detection?
