WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — At least 16,000 Medicaid beneficiaries and hundreds of prescribers in four US states carried out massive prescription-medication fraud worth tens of millions of dollars, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report.
“More than 16,000 of the 5.4 million beneficiaries potentially engaged in ‘doctor shopping,’ by visiting five or more doctors to receive prescriptions for antipsychotics or respiratory medications valued at about $33 million,” the report, released on Monday, said.
Medicaid is a social health care program for families and individuals in the United States with low income and limited resources.
“About 700 beneficiaries received more than a 1-year supply of the same drug in 2011 at a cost to Medicaid of at least $1.6 million,” it said. “This is an indicator of diversion, which is the redirection of prescription drugs for illegitimate purposes.”
Medicaid is a significant expenditure for the federal government and the states, with total federal outlays of $310 billion in fiscal year 2014,” the report noted.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported an estimated $17.5 billion in potentially improper payments for the Medicaid program in 2014, the report added.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is part of the Department of Health and Human Services that administers Medicaid and other healthcare programs, including parts of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
The US Government Accountability Office is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.
