R.I.P., Diogee

The OIG report states that in combating fraud, the government and its contractors have "used multiple approaches but none has proven successful over time." Medicare has stopped paying for certain drugs with high profit margins, for example, but the bad providers simply switch over and start billing for a different drug. Medicare can revoke provider numbers, but it has to give the provider 30 days' notice — which is plenty of time for fraudulent providers to keep billing. And even if providers get their number revoked, they can apply for other ones. The report mentions one guy who had 19 numbers revoked — and just kept on billing on his other ten.

Well, Tailpipe is going to pack away that little printing press he was using to make $20 bills in the basement. Why risk a stiff counterfeiting bust when money is flowing in the Medicare racket faster than you can print it?

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— As told to Edmund Newton