What the puck.  I'm amazed right now.  Medicare (social insurance for the elderly) and Medicaid (for low-income and disability affected families/persons) fraud has been under my radar for so long, why is it only now that it is being brought to my attention? Maybe cause I haven't bee looking for it, or maybe because there are only 3 fraud protection field inspectors in South Florida when the county of Miami-Dade received $520 million in Medicare funding in 2008 (1)... being the most demanding recipient of Medicare federal funding in our country (accounting for more funding than the rest of the country).  Why is it that the government isn't focusing more of their attention towards preventing fraud (which can happen in any city, town, county, home, warehouse, or store)? Why do we have a pilot strike force only enforcing protection from fraud in Houston, Detroit, and Miami?  This is proposterous, and... "According to the FBI, all you have to do to get into this business is rent a cheap storefront office, find or create a front man to get an occupational license, bribe a doctor or forge a prescription pad, and obtain the names and ID numbers of legitimate Medicare patients you can bill the phony charges to. "  (2)

 Now that the FBI has ruined it for all of the criminal masterminds making it now possible for average human beings like "Tony" to start up their own fraudulent business', all we can do is just practice preventive/precautionary methods of inspection before approval.  WTF-->  "Tony is not his real name. Before he was ratted out by a friend and brought down by the FBI, he was making Wall Street money running a string of phony medical supply companies out of a building that were theoretically providing wheel chairs and other expensive equipment to Medicare patients.  He [Tony] told Kroft he stole about $20 million from Medicare. He told Kroft it was "real easy." "And you're not exactly a criminal mastermind?" Kroft asked. "No. No," Tony said. "No, not really. It's more like common sense."  Asked if he actually ever sold any medical equipment, Tony said, "No. Just have somebody in an office answering the phone, like we're open for business. And wake up in the morning, see how much, check your bank account and see how much money you made today."  He told Kroft he didn't have any medical equipment or real clients - all of it was fake.  "And you would just fill out some invoices and some forms and send 'em to Medicare?" Kroft asked.  "That's it. In 15 to 30 days you'll have a direct deposit in your bank account. I mean it was ridiculous. It's more like taking candy from a baby," Tony said..."The Obama administration is providing Medicare with an additional $200 million to fight fraud as part of its stimulus package, and billions of dollars to computerize medical records and upgrade networks, which should help Medicare catch more phony charges."  "But Tony, who has just begun serving his 12 year prison sentence, says there's no shortage of people in Miami waiting to take his place. Asked how many people in Miami were doing this, Tony said, "I'd say at least 2,000 people. At least 2,000, 3,000 companies." He estimated that less than five percent of these companies were legitimate.  "If I went to the phone book and looked under medical equipment suppliers, 95 percent of the companies would be phony?" Kroft asked." (2)

Well Tony replied yes... DAMNIT, we really tend to not care about the creepy, perpetual, cycle of criminals being able to keep up with new technology implemented by federal/state/city/town legal enforcement services.  Trust no one, be skeptical (to a degree), express doubt but with reason, and never give out too much information.  I've been starting to see rays of hope in the collective effort of the people, we just need to be aware of the underlying fact that evil will never cease to exist.  Check your Medicare/Medicaid statements people.   WORD.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34437085/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/