I think it's about time that this place's less-than-honorable business practices were exposed once and for all.

Will be interesting to see how things proceed from this point forward.

earlier this month.

First last year...

Scooter Store cuts 220 workers
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/Scooter-Store-cuts-220-workers-3874803.php

Then earlier this month...

Scooter Store layoffs follow in wake of Round 2 announcement
http://www.hmenews.com/article/scooter-store-layoffs-follow-wake-round-2-announcement

Rackets like that make it harder for people who really need mobility devices to get them approved.

extra weight tends to exacerbate that. It's not cool to make judgments like that based on someone's appearance.

because they don't have mobility, the loss of which had nothing to do with weight.

Apparently you can rent them if you are loathe to schlep your drunk ass down the Strip.

It's weird ... maybe if they invested a bit of time learning logic and how to spell - they wouldn't be such idiots.

These armchair idiots who have a simple solution for everything belong in the Tea Party who have a simple solution for every complex problem. And every solution is that the problem is self-inflicted and if people would just stop being so lazy and pull themselves up by their bootstraps all problems would go away.

Welcome to the dumbing down of America.

..... Medicare is being ABUSED by the companies that make these devices. Ads touting them are all over the TV. Medicare should not reimburse enough on ANYTHING for ANY COMPANY to CREATE DEMAND using TV ads and then get reimbursed enough to make the device, run a zillion ads and make a profit.

If you understand BASIC ECONOMICS which is not a given of course, you understand THIS IS ABUSE and THIS ABUSE comes out of the benefits that could be paid to people WITH ACTUAL NEED.

Also, the companies that advertise these chairs "at no cost to you" are BREAKING THE LAW as it is illegal for a vendor to pay the deductible.

This entire business is a RACKET and if you don't understand why perhaps you need to EDUCATE YOURSELF.

What I said had NOTHING to do with medicare fraud, it was a reply to an incredibly idiotic and offensive comment. Nothing your asinine sockpuppet says does anything to negate that. If you're going to go on a rant, perhaps you should think of who you're talking to first. You need to begin to educate yourself before you could ever possibly hope to educate others.

... is a fraud, and a LARGE PERCENTAGE of the people riding these things have no medical necessity for doing so. You think that is "an insensitive comment"?
Tough shit, it is the truth.

I'm glad to see Medicare is finally cracking down on this bullshit.

Coming up: a crackdown on similar abuse for diabetes supplies.

Once again, because you seem to be rather slow, I said NOTHING pertaining to medicare or medicare fraud. I replied to an idiotic comment that, due to professional courtesy, you seem intent on defending. Rather than defending idiocy, how about you try to make yourself a better person? I guarantee that will make you happier than wallowing in more of the same.

.. intelligent enough to make the connection is not my problem.

suggest that you are completely incapable of making connections. Nearly everyone here is intelligent and decent enough to know that, but this simple concept eludes you and your sockpuppets. I expect this kind of idiocy from republicans, it's a damned shame I have to encounter it so much here.

Much like: maybe if they didn't rush to judgments, they wouldn't look like an idiot...

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

This has been long in coming. And I think it's been long in coming because of the connections that the owners have, etc. That's JUST an opinion from a lifelong Texan.

I believe they've been skimming Medicare for years.

This isn't about denying people who need mobility equipment. This is the NRA of mobility thinking. In their eyes EVERYONE needs a piece of equipment and they know how to use the system to make sure the govt pays for it . I know I was in the business once but I wasn't big enough for medicare to play with so they forced me out. Find the brand of mobility equipment the scooter store pushes as well, as to me their is an unholy alliance here as well. The scooter store never put my brand out there. That should tell you something.

is the inevitable backlash that comes when people who really need the equipment are suspected of fraud. And that's probably going to get even worse now.

many of whom are given access to certain markets through health care systems that are designed by Risk Managers.

unfreaking believable.....how many needless scooters did we get billed for.

Take Leder, Romney’s Boca Raton host, whose Sun Capital firm bought a stake in the Scooter Store last year. The company, known for its ubiquitous television ads promising seemingly free motorized wheelchairs for Medicare beneficiaries, has struggled as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that governs the programs, implements rules to curb rampant billing fraud. As a CMS report noted last year, 80 percent of the claims for scooters and power wheelchairs did not meet Medicare requirements, meaning that $492 million a year is being improperly spent.

they'd go crazy. One of the reason repugs like to freeze hiring, or cut budgets, is to create inefficiencies in government about which they then rant and rave.

And part of the objective of the Affordable Health Care Act, etc. is to cut medicare fraud. If the Scooter Store has nothing to hide, then they should have nothing to fear in having the FBI investigate.

But I'm guessing there are some sweaty palms about now...

happening.

And one absolutely confounding truth about it all is that money doesn't necessarily get what elders need. We've seen rich ones and poor ones pass on in and around our family and the rich ones may have a scooter, but they don't have what they actually NEED.

Too much abuse ultimately means someone is not getting what they need.

visiting church service for activities, or chemical restraints instead of assisted walking, or . . . .

The list is fucking endless folks, but everybody's got a scooter.

:shakeshead:

or "Prince Tag Along with Rev. Moon"

I applaud this action. These people have been ripping seniors and disabled off for years and giving Medicare a bad name at the same time.

We do it all for you," red flags go up. I know what consumers go through with these companies. They are lied to and taken advantage of. Meanwhile, the companies look at Medicare as free money and will find ways to get every penny they can.

There are a lot of medical equipment businesses that are ripping off Medicare. Its a really sleazy business and the equipment they're pushing often isn't in the patient's best interests.

They tightened up the rules a few years back but didn't really prosecute anyone. I'm not sure if they perpetrated absolute fraud--they did push scooters on people who really didn't need them. I think the fact that scooters that had been delivered to "patients" were showing up on ebay a month later caused the crackdown. I'm sure that some family members with the help of the scooter store knew full well they were going to immediately sell "Dad's new scooter" as they had no genuine need of it.

It looks like besides making scooters loaners rather than giving them to patients, it looks like they delayed full payment for a year which apparently shook up the industry and made it less profitable.

They're still taking orders.

and you won't pay a dime!

if Leder was a major donor to Romney, and a major stake holder in the Scooter Store, then much of Romneys campaign funds were ripped off of taxpayers?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/10/1142789/-Medicare-scooters-and-Mitt-linked-through-Tagg-Romney-s-crony-capitalism

where will it send me...

The problem is a lot bigger than just the scooters.



http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6837797n

create a scam and have government (ie taxpayers) pay for it. Then scream about big government.

My mother 86 and has had a hip replacement. She has some problems walking around her house due to her hip. Under Medicare she can get a Motorized Wheelchair or a Scooter IF SHE NEEDS IT TO GET AROUND INSIDE HER HOUSE. That is all Medicare will pay for, Medicare will NOT pay if you want a scooter to go outside (as shown in the Scooter's Store Advertisements), or to the local store that you use to walk to, to have around if you took a walk and wanted one around in case you had to use it due to your medical condition.

My mother is marginal. She probably can use a Scooter to get around inside her house. A powered wheelchair would be more maneuverable inside the house, but if she wanted to take it outside, the Scooter would be better.

Now, once it is determined you NEED a Power Wheelchair or a Scooter to get around INSIDE your house, you can also use it outside. In fact there is no law that say you can not use in primary outside, as long as you need it to get around some inside. Into this hole is where the Scooter Store jumped in with both feet, and I suspect where it has violated the law. Their ads clearly slow use of scooters outside the home, the ads imply a person can get medicare to pay for a scooter even if use only outside. The problem is that is NOT the law.

A further problem is, I deal with people who need wheelchairs and scooters, powered wheelchairs are preferred inside a home for they are more maneuverable. Scooters are preferred outside the home, for the longer wheel base of the Scooter gives it a smoother ride. In many ways the Scooter Store was on thin ice, many people want a scooter to get around OUTSIDE, but medicare does NOT pay for Scooters that is used exclusively outside. If the Scooter Store had supplied powered wheelchairs instead, they would have a better defense, but powered wheelchairs are not as popular a Scooters for outside use (and when people start looking at powered wheelchairs, they tend to be directed to local suppliers by their doctors and other medical providers). Thus the Scooter Store was aiming itself at those people whose doctors wanted them to walk around their home (and can do so), but wanted to be able to go around outside.

Anyway I have been looking for a Scooter for my mother for her to be able to get outside more, thus unless a doctor decides she needs it for inside use, I will have to pay for it myself. I narrowed the selection to three, the first two I like for there have Pneumatic tires unlike most scooters that tend to have solid tires (Solid tires do NOT give as smooth a ride a pneumatic tire but do NOT need to be kept inflated). The third has solid tires and more usable inside the home.


http://www.spinlife.com/Afikim-Breeze-S-4-Wheel-4-Wheel-Scooter/spec.cfm?productID=95511#.USeq0R3MCEY


http://www.spinlife.com/Afikim-SE-Heavy-Duty/High-Weight-Capacity-Scooter/spec.cfm?productID=95579#.USerRR3MCEY


http://www.spinlife.com/Pride-Pursuit-PMV-Heavy-Duty/High-Weight-Capacity-Scooter/spec.cfm?productID=90374#.USesJh3MCEY

http://www.spinlife.com/critpath/match.cfm?categoryID=63

The Powered wheelchair option I like is one that can be packed in a car:

http://www.spinlife.com/Zip'r-Mobility-Zip'r-PC-Indoor-Power-Wheelchair/spec.cfm?productID=83779#.USeueB3MCEY