Cuban regime identified in multi-million-pound Medicare fraud in South Florida

Dr Oz claims that the Cuban government "could be involved" in Medicare and Medicaid fraud in Miami. Eight people were arrested in Los Angeles in connection with a $50 million scheme.

Massive Medicare fraud: Dr Oz points to Cuban regime and eight arrested in California

The Trump Administration accused the Cuban regime of participating in multi-million-pound frauds against Medicare and Medicaid in South Florida, according to telemundo51.com. Dr Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, stated that fraud in the Miami area was "out of control" and that the Cuban government "could be involved" in these schemes.

In statements to Fox News, Oz indicated that since late March he had requested information on how Florida was combating the problem. As an example of the scale of the fraud, he noted that in Miami there were two durable medical equipment providers for every McDonald's, a type of business identified as a primary target of these scams.

Oz added that some of those implicated would be Cuban immigrants who defrauded the system and then left the country. However, other sources consulted described that assertion as speculative. "What I'm telling you is entirely speculative, but as far as what people know as health system fraud crime, I don't believe it's possible," one of those sources said.

Practices under investigation

The authorities described a series of methods under investigation: medical equipment that was never delivered, misuse of beneficiary numbers, unusual increases in enrolments, frequent changes between health plans, and abnormal billing patterns. One of the most common schemes consisted of stealing the beneficiary number to bill for products that were never sent.

Vice-President JD Vance stated that his team "wasted no time" in taking action against this type of crime. The Trump Administration insisted that stopping these schemes was necessary to preserve the public health system, whilst at the same time acknowledging that it is a complex problem that affects both patients and doctors, and that it should not be attributed without evidence to a specific group.

Eight arrested in Los Angeles over $50 million in false charges

The United States Department of Justice reported that a joint investigation by federal and local agencies resulted in the arrest of eight people in South California. Among those detained were three nurses, a chiropractor and an alleged psychologist, who face federal charges for an alleged $50 million fraud linked to Medicare's palliative care system.

According to the official statement, the accused managed palliative care services through Medicare for people who did not have terminal illnesses. The operation was named "Never Say Die" by the FBI.

"The United States loses hundreds of billions of dollars annually because of health system fraud, at the expense of all American taxpayers, whose benefits decrease as premiums, copayments and taxes increase," said Akil Davis, Deputy Director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office.

Individual cases

Lolita Beronilla Minerd, 65 years old and a resident of Anaheim, was accused of submitting fraudulent claims for palliative care to Medicare for more than $9 million, of which Medicare allegedly paid more than $8 million. According to the statement, a couple asserted that they had been contacted by a call centre operator and subsequently visited by Minerd and other employees, "who promised them that if they enrolled, everything would be free and each would receive $300 per month. The money was handed over in cash, in an envelope: $600 monthly for six months". Neither of the two suffered from a terminal illness.

Gladwin Gill, a 66-year-old psychologist, and his wife Amelou Gill, a 70-year-old registered nurse, both of Covina, were accused of "paying illegal bribes for the referral of patients who were not in terminal phase". Their claims to Medicare exceeded $5.2 million. The couple allegedly used the money to pay mortgages and luxury travel.

Six of the eight accused arrested were to appear before a court on the same day as their detention. All face sentences of up to ten years in federal prison; those found guilty of wire fraud could receive sentences of up to twenty years.

Source: Google News CU — Crime