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Medicare Paid Out $28K in Penis Pumps, Many for Girls

Phony claims didn't even change names

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 17, 2010 4:19 PM CDT

(Newser) – It's no wonder Medicare loses billions to fraud: fooling the health care program is really, really easy. Just ask Emilio Lopez and Orlando Estevez, two Florida businessmen accused of bilking Medicare for $28,600 in penis pumps to combat impotence, even though the supposed patients included women. Yes, Medicare regulators did not even notice they were paying out $395 per penis pump to help Florida ladies battle erectile dysfunction.

Sadly, authorities say the penis pump scheme is only the most outrageous of Lopez and Estevez's fraud: case documents detail how Medicare reimbursed their two companies about $735,000 after they submitted $1.9 million in fake claims, reports the Miami Herald, which notes that Miami-Dade has become the capital of Medicare fraud over the last decade.

A penis pump is pictured in this file photo.
A penis pump is pictured in this file photo.   (Wikimedia Commons)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 34 comments
myflap.blow
Oct 14, 2010 11:50 PM CDT
In case you pissed it...
Alan
Aug 18, 2010 11:45 AM CDT
More then 25 years ago, after a short hospital stay, I had the opportunity to review the hospital bill. I noticed several incorrct charges. Having insurance through a large private company, I felt responsible to report these charges to the private insurance company. I was informed "...it is only a few hundred dollars..." of incorrect charges and was not worth the time of the insurance company to go after the hospital for the overcharge (fraud?) Private or public insurance,: neither seems particularly interested in maintaining the integrity of their programs. To pretend this is new, or is simply the domain of the public sector is, at best, a show of ignorance of very complicated systems.
Brass
Aug 18, 2010 7:30 AM CDT
Your tax dollars are working hard... heh heh heh
 

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