received approximately 30 tips over a three-year period telling of scams, but responded to less than half of them. In many instances, organized crime groups have been behind the cheating of Medicare, finding it’s easier and less dangerous to make millions from robbing the federal government than resorting to prostitution, gambling or drug dealing.

 

Southern California is one particularly bad region for Medicare fraud, where Russian, Armenian and Nigerian mafias are now coming under investigation by federal agents.

Konstantin Grigoryan, a former Soviet army colonel turned crime boss, recently pled guilty to taking $20 million from Medicare.

 

Timothy Menke, head of investigations for the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services, told the Associated Press, “Organized crime involvement in health care fraud is widespread.”

 

It is estimated that the federal government loses about $60 billion a year to Medicare fraud. A 60 Minutes investigation found Medicare fraud is considered a bigger criminal enterprise in Florida than cocaine trafficking.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Feds Ignored Medicare Scam Warnings for Years (by Kelli Kennedy, Associated Press)

Medicare Fraud: A $60 Billion Crime (60 Minutes)

The $60 Billion Fraud (60 Minutes)

Organized Crime's New Target: Medicare (by Allan Chernoff and Sheila Steffen, CNN)