Word: frauds
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...scandal at the Bank of Credit & Commerce International broke last spring, the Justice Department has been taking heat for its less than dynamic prosecution. But last week the department indicted B.C.C.I. and three bank officials, charging them with illegally taking over Independence Bank of Encino, Calif., and with fraud that contributed to the billion-dollar downfall of Florida's CenTrust thrift. Indicted with the bank were founder Agha Hasan Abedi, former bank president Swaleh Naqvi and B.C.C.I. front man Ghaith Pharaon. Since the U.S. stands little chance of extraditing Abedi from Pakistan and Naqvi faces charges in Abu Dhabi, Pharaon...
...FRAUD AND ABUSE...
...does an insurance company know whether a patient really got the care for which it picks up most of the tab? Doctors and hospitals are on the honor system, but some of them cheat. Fraud may account for as much as $75 billion of annual U.S. health-care expenditures, according to the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association. Last June California officials uncovered the biggest single medical fraud to date, a $1 billion rip-off carried out by thieves operating clinics on wheels. Investigators say the clinics offered patients free tests and exams, then used their insurance information to generate...
SOLUTION: Tougher enforcement. Insurance companies and public authorities should pool information on fraud via computer networks. At the very least, this would prevent thieves from simply repeating their crimes later in fresh territory, as many now do, thanks to lax record keeping by program administrators. In addition, physicians and hospital officials must police their own ranks and blow the whistle on dishonest billing practices. Stricter policing will cost more, but it should pay for itself many times over...
While no treatment manual for American medicine should focus purely on its price, controlling costs is critical. If the medical experts are right, the U.S. could save at least $200 billion a year simply by curbing fraud and unnecessary practice. We know where the problems lie. Doing something about them is at the very least our moral duty and is profoundly in our self- interest as a nation. Depriving millions of Americans of health care is wrong. Wasting billions of precious medical dollars on paperwork, dead-end procedures and outright theft is stupid. Undermining the health of our workers...