is going to slip off the radar.

The future of this country depends on good people like this whistle-blower doing the right thing. Because, it doesn't look like our political or legal system are up to the task.

And we need stronger laws protecting whistleblowers.

The defrauding of Medicaid and Medicare has become a national sport. Such abuse is rife in Florida. I called my doctor's office, about 7 years ago, to make an appointment...there was a brief silence before the receptionist said...Dr.________ is no longer in practice. Turns out he had been taken from the office in handcuffs just a few days before....Medicaid fraud, he and a pharmacist!

I hope Ms Baklid-Kunz is not intimidated into retracting...

The population is more trusting of authority so they don't question what the MD charges Medicare for.

I believe you were lucky not to be under the care of that MD any longer, it seems he lacked integrity.

And it has been going on for decades... In 1987 a doctor sent in a bill for a triple by-pass for my late mother-in-law. She died on the operating table 1/2 hour into the surgery...he billed for the full surgery... at that time $30,000. It was paid!

Re: my own dr....I was shocked, he was a good doctor...money got in the way somehow. It's sad really.

In Florida, if doctors didn't grow-up there or move there for the easy money, they are changed over-time as they see MDs all around them raking in the cash. The old "everybody does it" takes hold and they slide.

We need to change our entire medical delivery system...adopt the Cleveland Clinic model perhaps...Drs.are paid annual salaries...get rid of the fee for service model. The AMA says that would create a shortage of doctors...BS, doctors from all over the world would be happy to come here to practice.

They don't want doctors coming here from all over the world. It used to be foreign MDs had to jump through all sorts of hoops to practice in the US, maybe it has changed. I saw too much in my 30 years in healthcare to believe that the AMA is most concerned with the health of the American people.

I agree, we need to change the system

only one was born here. Iran, Hungary, Russia and Colombia provided the other 4. All were excellent doctors and the one from Iran was a prince among men! He organized the blood workups so that my honey wasn't going for testing one or two times a month. One test was shared among all the doctors. Thus he needed to have blood drawn at most every 2 months, but usually every 3. That alone was a big savings.

Another rip-off are the providers of devices for diabetes or delivery of prescriptions. The waste is atrocious as no one keeps track.

But when every MD owns a lab or a piece of one, it behooves them to draw as many labs as possible. I am glad your SO had such good care

Diabetes type II is a horrible disease and is a cash cow right now, in the US. Lots of money to be made off of misery. Yes, you get the Glucometer for free, but pay through the nose for test strips. Some of the oral medications actually cause weight-gain and not just because they are decreasing blood-glucose. Too many MDs fail to instruct on nutrition beyond the basics. GMOs and hormone fed meat contribute to weight gain and fatigue, but MDs aren't going to jeopardize themselves by saying anything even if they know.

He was a good man, COPD.

I filled 5 large shopping bags with meds I brought to his pulmonologist...Prescriptions would change, and they would continue sending the old with the new. I didn't have the authority to remove a scrip from the shipment and he, like so many others, was too bitter and resentful about his illness to care about the cost. There were 5 Glucometers, 3 still in boxes...It's crazy.

Patients don't feel the sting and if the practitioner fills out the correct paperwork, the government pays.

COPD is torture, I understand his mood.

So I couldn't bring myself to torture him about being responsible! I blame the providers! A simple phone call to doctor or patient and the
problem would be solved...but then they wouldn't be making the mark-up.

potential competition, and maximize profits. They are completely unconcerned with quality of care, efficient delivery, or competence of their members.

WTF? What about that pesky old Hippocratic Oath Dr Vinas?