30 U.S. attorneys investigate BILKING BILLIONS, Medicare, Medicaid, Military’s Healthcare

Topics:
How is it that $$ BILLIONS $$ of fraud does not put CEOs in jail?
How is it that $$ BILLIONS $$ of fraud cases seem to evaporate or settle for so little?
How were those $$ BILLIONS $$ in lobbying by single industries spent? Where do those bucks STOP?

Focus: The BIG PICTURE.

=============
HCA's "fraud investigation involved 30 U.S. attorneys' offices, 22 FBI field offices, inspectors general from the Health and Human Service Department and the Office of Personnel Management, Defense Department investigators and state fraud units"

SOURCE: John Byrne, "Company run by Frist's brother made $630m deal two days before he announced he would be leader"
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Family_company_of_Senate_leader_made_0929.html

==================
In September 2005, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, named Frist as one of the thirteen most "corrupt" members of Congress, and filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee calling for an investigation of the stock sale, an alleged cover-up, and an allegedly mishandled disclosure of a campaign loan. ... In April 2007, he was exonerated by the SEC and the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2006/11/29/frist-decides-against-%e2%80%9908-presidential-bid

=================
FOLLOW THE MONEY in every investigation = Lobbyists & $$$ BILLIONS with a B, BBBillions!!!!!!!!!
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/index.asp

In addition to campaign contributions to elected officials and candidates, companies, labor unions, and other organizations spend billions of dollars each year to lobby Congress and federal agencies. Some special interests retain lobbying firms, many of them located along Washington's legendary K Street; others have lobbyists working in-house. We've got totals spent on lobbying, beginning in 1998, for everyone from AAI Corp. to Zurich Financial.

==== Top Spenders, 1998-2006
#1 - US Chamber of Commerce - $317,164,680
#2 - American Medical Assn - $156,375,500
#3 - General Electric - $137,770,000
#4 - American Hospital Assn - $129,114,026

==== Top Sectors, 1998-2006
#1 - Finance, Insurance & Real Estate - $2,558,205,882
#2 - Health - $2,298,865,053

===================
May 23, 2004 -Denver Post by Anne C. Mulkern
When Advocates Become Regulators
President Bush has installed more than 100 top officials who were once lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0523-02.htm

Thomas A. Scully .... former hospital lobbyist presided over an agency that helped a chain he once represented win a favorable settlement in a Medicare fraud case.

Thomas A. Scully represented the nation's for-profit hospitals as a lobbyist before being hired by the Bush administration in June 2001 to head the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Eight months after Scully arrived at the Medicare and Medicaid agency, it moved to settle final claims involving HCA Inc., a hospital chain that was the biggest member of Scully's former employer, the Federation of American Hospitals. HCA Inc. faced allegations it fraudulently overbilled the government for Medicare cases.

Under the terms agreed to in June 2002 by Scully's agency, HCA would have settled for $250 million. Medicare fraud cases typically are ironed out with Justice Department participation, but Scully agreed to those terms on his own, said John R. Phillips, an attorney who represented whistle-blowers in the case.

"The $250 million was a total sellout by Scully, who totally negotiated it behind Justice's back," Phillips said.

===================
This thread is spinning off from:
US Attorney Firing: Voter Fraud, Medicare Fraud, WHICH IS IT ???
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x853813#873507

Therein, the fraud focus is Tenet Healthcare's fraud litigation timeline in relation to the USA firings.
Herein, the fraud focus shifts to the #1 Company, HCA, to ALL the others, and to how they get away with defrauding the People.

===================
November 29, 2006, 11:04 am
Frist Decides Against ’08 Presidential Bid
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2006/11/29/frist-decides-against-%e2%80%9908-presidential-bid

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said he has put aside plans to run for the White House in 2008, and instead will return to medicine and the health-care field that helped launch his political career 12 years ago..

March 28, 2002-November 2002: Medicare Administrator Allegedly Negotiates Settlement with HCA Behind DOJ’s Back that is ‘Too Lenient.’
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=us_health_care_tmln&hlthcr_scandals=hlthcr_statistics_hca_inflated_cost

HCA, the country’s largest for-profit hospital chain, announces that it has struck a deal with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) over unaudited Medicare and Medicaid billings. The company—which paid more than $840 million in criminal fines, civil penalties, and damages in 2000 for fraudulent reportings to Medicare (see December 14, 2000), and which is still being investigated—will pay CMS $250 million to zero out its account with the agency. But according to numerous government whistle-blowers, the amount is far too low. In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) will later accuse Medicare officials of “seeking to allow HCA to resolve more than $1 billion of liability to the Medicare program for only $250 million, based on little to no evidence supporting this low figure.” Even more troubling, notes the Senator, Medicare has agreed not to audit the company’s cost reports that have been piling up since 1997 when the agency stopped processing HCA bills because of the lawsuit. “One would expect a company with such a track record to be subjected to heightened scrutiny.… the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is proposing to excuse HCA from an even routine review of thousands of Medicare cost reports,” Grassley writes. He says the deal is “too lenient.” John R. Phillips, one of the attorneys involved in the lawsuit against HCA, later says the deal was quietly arranged between HCA and CMS head Thomas A. Scully.

.......

June 26, 2003: Largest Hospital Chain in US Settles with Government over Allegations of Health Care Fraud

HCA Inc. and the US Justice Department sign a settlement agreement, resolving allegations that the company paid kickbacks to physicians and submitted false cost reports and fraudulent bills to Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health programs. Under the terms of the agreement, HCA, the country’s largest for-profit hospital chain, will pay the US government $631 million in civil penalties and damages.

....................

I am still having a hard time getting my arms around the this scandal because of its size. It almost defies description that something this big could be happening right in front of us, and yet we are mostly ignorant of the basic facts.

Thanks L. Coyote for keeping this on the front burner.

This is truly a big thing, and the $$$ numbers are nearly beyond believable.

It is also the BUSHCO story in a nutshell. Selling out to special $$$$ interests.
We only need follow the money trail to get the real picture of what is at work.
And we need real reform along with prosecutions. Meanwhile, this DoJ is part of the problem.

======================================
The Senate Approach to Lobbying Reform
House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, March 1, 2007
http://www.brookings.edu/views/testimony/mann/20070301.htm

Mr. Chairman and other members of the Subcommittee, thank for you inviting me to share my views of S. 1, the bill on lobbying reform passed by the Senate earlier this year. The prosecution and guilty pleas of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Representatives Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Bob Ney, and several former congressional staff have understandably brought to public attention the adequacy of laws, congressional rules, and enforcement mechanisms regulating the interactions between lobbyists and Members of Congress and their staffs. These scandals, ongoing investigations of others, and the widespread public perception of a culture of corruption in Washington could provide the boost required to enact long-needed changes in that regulatory system.

Lobbying has changed dramatically in recent years. The number of registered lobbyists has tripled. Budgets for Washington representation and grassroots lobbying have risen exponentially. Retiring or defeated Members are now more likely to stay in Washington and join their ranks. Congressional staff routinely move from Capitol Hill to lobbying shops around town. Some Members have been actively involved in placing their staff and those of their colleagues in key positions within the lobbying community. Many Members enlist lobbyists to help raise campaign funds for their re-election campaigns, leadership PACs, endangered colleagues, and political party committees. The escalating cost of campaigns has put intense pressure on Members, even those with safe seats, and lobbyists to raise and contribute substantial sums of money. At the same time, more opportunities exist for Members and their leaders to deliver benefits to lobbyists and their clients. These include earmarks, in appropriations and authorization bills; invitations to participate in informal mark-up sessions in party task forces, standing committees, and conference committees; amendments added late in the legislative process under the veil of secrecy; and letters and calls to executive branch officials. These conditions foster practices that risk conflicts of interest and unethical or illegal behavior. ....................

Which USAs were involved in the decisions and what has happened since in their offices. What other personnel were involved, and what is their history since?

The BIG story is at the top, of course--the primary decision makers governing all these USAs. Was it Ashcroft/Gonzales, or the boss, Bush? Where does the buck STOP now?

According to Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0523-02.htm

Eight months after Scully arrived at the Medicare and Medicaid agency, it moved to settle final claims involving HCA Inc.,... Medicare fraud cases typically are ironed out with Justice Department participation, but Scully agreed to those terms on his own, said John R. Phillips, an attorney who represented whistle-blowers ....

Credible??? This needs investigating too. Even if the impresion was given that DoJ was not primary, I don't think you can undo an investigation involving 30 USAs w/o DoJ making the decision--it is their chain of command. So, for HCA, was it Bush or Ashcroft? Was it the DoJ Executive Office for USAs? Should we be looking at why Ashcroft is gone too?

The BIG PICTURE is a pattern of repeated settling of the fraud cases w/o the CEOs doing time, as if "noone" commits the white-collar crime if it is a corporation. That points to policy and influence peddling. Are some people above the law? Misdemeanor shoplifters fair worse.

We may also need new legislation to prevent "escape" by individuals when corporations commit crimes.

Texas Medication Algorythm Project?
Has medicare medicaid fraud written all over it IMHO.
TMAP- Bankrupting Medicaid Before the Baby Boomers Even Use It

Bush endorsed and implemented TMAP in Texas and of the 22 members in the New Freedom Commission, 14 are directly associated with that organization. The New Freedom Act is a fraud. It is modeled after The Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP). An algorithm is like a menu at a restaurant with drugs as the choices, if its not on the menu the doctor cannot order the prescription. TMAP takes advantage of foster children, institutionalized people, veterans and prisoners to further drug company profits as well as robbing the American tax-payers. It forces state and Medicaid doctors to prescribe super-expensive, dangerous new medications to mental health patients.

TMAP has even persuaded officials into giving Medicaid to people who don't need it so they can afford the overpriced medications and by early 2001 the program bankrupted Texas's Medicaid system. At the rate TMAP guidelines explode Medicaid expenses we will be paying an outlandish 3.7 billion a year for schizophrenia medications alone, effectively bankrupting Medicaid nationwide.
http://www.freearticlesearch.com/Government/69572.html
http://www.cchr.org/index.cfm/8356
Also check the New Freedom Commission, better fraud and social control through psychiatry


Above all, to call this new plan the "New Freedom Commission" is perhaps the ultimate insult to the intelligence of the American people. Beware of any big government mandate that has the word "freedom" in it, because chances are it's more about taking away your freedom than ensuring it. Forcing people to undergo mental health screening is not freedom. Dosing people up with prescription drugs that alter their brain chemistry and take away their normal healthy brain function is not freedom. In fact, it is chemical enslavement, and the perpetrators behind this diabolical plan are truly the enemies to freedom, democracy, and the ideals that America historically stands for. The next thing you know, they're going to be claiming that terrorists are causing mental health disorders in this country, and everybody needs to be screened for mental health disorders as defense against terrorism. Don't be surprised if you hear that initiative launched in the months ahead.
http://www.newstarget.com/001688.html
http://www.cchr.org/index.cfm/8030
More..
http://psychdata.blogspot.com/2007/01/kids-treated-like-lab-rats.html
http://www.mindfreedom.org/

This is horrific.

We need to start freeway blogging with signs that say something like "Let Our Tax Dollars Support PEOPLE, NOT corporations"! We have been bilked out of trillions of dollars from republicans, and it all makes its way back to republican coffers and their election campaigns.

:kick::kick::kick:

That is the question of the day, the hour, the week, the month, and 2008!!

Before this thread started in May, before the Missouri USA's firing produced a second firing of a prosecutor investigating Tenet Healthcares bilking billions, this report took some of the spotlight away from Lam's investigation of Tenet, and the simultaneous timelines of Tenet and the CIA investigations. Weigh this one for yourselves, with the benefit of some hindsight in the posts below:

Oh, and what about forcing Rove to testify? That was months ago and....?

=================================
Published on Monday, March 19, 2007 by McClatchy Newspapers
U.S. Attorney's Firing may be Connected to CIA Corruption Probe
by Margaret Talev / Marisa Taylor
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0319-01.htm


WASHINGTON - Fired San Diego U.S. attorney Carol Lam notified the Justice Department that she intended to execute search warrants on a high-ranking CIA official as part of a corruption probe the day before a Justice Department official sent an e-mail that said Lam needed to be fired, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Sunday.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse denied in an e-mail that there was any link.

"We have stated numerous times that no U.S. attorney was removed to retaliate against or inappropriately interfere with any public corruption investigation or prosecution," he wrote. "This remains the case and there is no evidence that indicates otherwise."

But the revelation is sure to heighten demands in Congress for a full investigation into whether something other than job performance was behind the Justice Department's dismissals .........

...........Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he intends to force President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, to testify ......

The War On Waste
Defense Department Cannot Account For 25% Of Funds — $2.3 Trillion
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

and if Congress can't get its act together, maybe these 'others' at CIA and The Hill should be exposed,

"It's all part of a growing ongoing investigation into corruption in defense and intelligence contracts, which already has sent former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham to prison and, legal sources say, may threaten others in Congress and the CIA. "

FBI probes Watergate prostitution allegations
Infamous hotel used by defense contractor to entertain lawmakers?
May 4, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12634250/

A CIA/GOP/moneysiphon ? Whodathunkit ?

Here is the CREW story, mentioned above.

Group Lists 13 'Most Corrupt' in Congress
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/24122

25 Sep 2005 // A watchdog group, naming what it calls "the 13 most corrupt members of Congress," is calling for ethics investigations of some of the most prominent leaders on Capitol Hill in a report to be released Monday.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington says in its report that the 13 members, among them Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), might have violated a variety of congressional ethics rules. ........

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington "was compelled to research and release a report on these corrupt members because the ethics committees in both the House and Senate are completely inert," Sloan said. "The report calls for the House and Senate to act to investigate and take appropriate action against them for these violations of the rules." .....

.................

Former Sen. Frist cleared in stock probe
By RICHARD POWELSON
Friday, April 27, 2007
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/21982

Former Senate Republican leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, is keeping low key about his vindication in two federal probes over the timing of his 2005 sales of all his family's stock in HCA Inc.

When the 19-month-long probes ended with no charges, Frist simply issued a brief written statement to the news media Friday saying he was "pleased" that the findings echoed what "I've said throughout this matter ... (that) I acted properly."

Frist disclosed that he had been notified by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York that they concluded their inquiries and are taking no action.

There is a relationship with SEC cases for Southern District of New York, Wall Street jurisdiction, I guess.

This need more attention in relation to the facile settlements. But, it is late just now.

Reducing Medicare and Medicaid Fraud by Drug Manufacturers
The Role of the False Claims Act
prepared for Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund
by Andy Schneider, Principal - Medicaid Policy, LLC
http://www.taf.org/publications%5CPDF%5Cdrug%20report.pdf Nov 2003

Since 2001, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has settled seven cases involving allegations
of Medicare and Medicaid drug pricing and marketing fraud against six
pharmaceutical manufacturers: AstraZeneca, Bayer, Dey, GlaxoSmithKline,
Pfizer, and TAP Pharmaceuticals (a joint venture of Abbott Laboratories and Takeda
Chemical Industries).1 Among these are three of the top five companies (by sales volume)
in the industry: Pfizer (#1), GlaxoSmithKline (#2), and AstraZeneca (#5). As shown
in Figure 1, the total paid out by these manufacturers to settle these cases over the last
three years is nearly $1.66 billion.

........seven settlements reviewed in this report.
Despite their size and potential significance, these settlements are not widely known.
The purpose of this report is to inform policymakers and the public of these cases and
their implications for Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health programs......

Of the $1.66 billion, $360 million in criminal fines was deposited in the Crime
Victims Fund. Federal civil recoveries totaled nearly $1.3 billion, the majority of which
was attributable to Medicare. Nearly $217 million was paid to the states as their share
of the federal-state Medicaid recoveries. Nearly $188 million, or 17.4 percent of the
federal civil recoveries, was paid to whistleblowers............

Lobbying Database
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/index.asp

You can check who paid which lobbyist how much which years.

Pfizer paid out $12,220,000 in 2006

American Hospital Assn paid $320,000 to Quinn, Gillespie & Assoc in 2006. Gillespie was RNC chairman.
Tenet Healthcare paid $360,000.

Quinn, Gillespie & Assoc 2006 Total Lobbying Income: $16,840,000

On going activity that is gaining more power by the day and shows no signs of slowing down. Who will stop it? Can anyone?

be easy. The bilking of the government can only happen if it is condoned. We see Bush filling the regulatory agencies with lobbyists from the industries regulated. One more reason to IMPEACH now is to be able to undo that problem. Congress alone cannot put an end to this. If the Department of Justice is co-opted, and all the regulators are too, it is time for the HOUSE to start cleaning the whole house out. IMPEACH for a change.

IMPEACH!

Bush's $800 Billion Lobbyist-Induced Giveaway On Medicare Creates Democratic Opportunities
by Steve Soto
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/006912.php

It’s time for Democrats to come out this fall for universal coverage, and to fix the donut hole and eliminate the corporate welfare behind the Medicare Part D benefit. And as more and more is learned about the role that GOP lobbyists played in foisting the Medicare Part D fraud upon seniors and all taxpayers with the Bush Administration's full support, Democrats can tie the culture of corruption and Medicare Part D into a powerful narrative in support of health care reform and public financing of congressional campaigns this fall. Hell, even GOP senators are thinking about hooking up with their Democratic counterparts to push public financing this year, so the time is right for the party to get ambitious on both health care and restoring the public's control over its government.

Bush Gives Key to Medicare Fund to Known Criminals
by Evelyn J. Pringle
www.dissidentvoice.org
January 26, 2005
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Jan05/Pringle0126.htm


The new Medicare Prescription Drug Bill was supposed to make drugs more affordable for senior citizens, but numerous studies reveal that it has done just the opposite.

The actual so-called benefit from the bill will not go into effect until 2006, so in the meantime Bush and his cronies in the industry came up with the idea for a prescription drug discount card program intended to reduce prescription costs for senior citizens until 2006. To that end, Bush chose roughly 70 private companies to administer the program and provide the discount cards to seniors, at a fee of up to $30 to use at pharmacies.

Time to do the math. The Medicare program has about 40 million participants. So multiply that number by $30 and see how much it comes to. If the Bush scam had gone according to the plan, the companies authorized to administer the program would have made a bundle before the first prescription drug was even purchased. However, Bush and his gang underestimated the intelligence of seniors because few people signed up for the cards. In fact, last time I checked the companies couldn't even give them away.

What qualifications did a company have to have to be approved? That question requires a one-word answer -- money.

Most of the companies that Bush selected are either large insurance companies or prescription benefit managers (PBMs), and not surprising, most are top Republican campaign contributors. ................

In the mental health system.

In the PrP's where the state was paying for psych day programs.
One program's director embezzled a shit load and vanished, I heard about it told my therapist and got railroaded out of the program.

In another program I was choked by night staff and that was covered up when I saw fraud and what looked like Eugenics and informed my state senator about it.
The shit I have seen would blow your mind and piss you off.

It's ludicrous what these greedy fuckers and bean counters who cover their asses do to fuck over medicare and mental health treatment.
Read about a day program I attended and left recently..They seemed fishy to me.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=276x4948
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=276x5034
This says stuff about other programs fishiness
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=276x4931

I knew an activist for the Mental Patient's Liberation Front in 1972? in Cambridge, MA and she helped me see that this was an important part of the Peace and Justice Movement. The Corporatist options of locking them up forever or tossing them into the gutter is the truly insane bit of framing. I looked up MPLF on the web, and found a useful chronology, although the home page is a bit garish (black on red) and the site otherwise a bit sparse - http://mplf.org/text1/chronology70s.html

While they are facing $900 Million in fines and penalties for bilking Medicare and Medicaid. Read it on the AP wire last night, it said his salary would be $37,000 per week.

This article is a great read, truly sarcastic!!
Tenet owns Novation, a target of TX US Attorney investigations of Medicare fraud.
FROM:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x853813
=============
Jeb Bush Joins the Tenet Gravy Train
By Brett Arends - Mutual Funds Columnist
5/9/2007 10:25 AM EDT
http://www.thestreet.com/_googlen/funds/followmoney/10355637.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA


A senior member of the Bush dynasty is about to get a large sum of money from a company with a history of ethical violations.

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Jeb Bush, the president's brother and former governor of Florida, is up for election Thursday as a director of troubled hospital chain Tenet Healthcare (THC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating). Assuming he's waved through, his pay in his first year would come to nearly $37,000 a day.

This is the same Tenet that had to pay $900 million to Uncle Sam last summer to settle charges that it had overbilled Medicare and Medicaid over many years.

Nine hundred million dollars. ......................

Doctors Reap Millions for Anemia Drugs
By ALEX BERENSON and ANDREW POLLACK
Published: May 9, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/business/09anemia.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Two of the world’s largest drug companies are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to doctors every year in return for giving their patients anemia medicines, which regulators now say may be unsafe at commonly used doses.

The payments are legal, but very few people outside of the doctors who receive them are aware of their size. Critics, including prominent cancer and kidney doctors, say the payments give physicians an incentive to prescribe the medicines at levels that might increase patients’ risks of heart attacks or strokes.

Industry analysts estimate that such payments — to cancer doctors and the other big users of the drugs, kidney dialysis centers — total hundreds of millions of dollars a year and are an important source of profit for doctors and the centers. The payments have risen over the last several years, as the makers of the drugs, Amgen and Johnson & Johnson, compete for market share and try to expand the overall business. ....

==========================
AMGEN INC, 2006 - Total Lobbying Expenditures : $10,220,000.00
JOHNSON & JOHNSON - Total Lobbying Expenditures: $5,600,000.00

Pharmaceutical Rsrch & Mfrs of America, 2006 - $104,302,000.00

http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/index.asp

http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/04/05/24.php

To understand why government policies affecting healthcare, drug safety, food safety and the environment appear to promote industry interests at the expense of public safety and health, the Denver Post has investigated the administration's top regulatory officials (excerpt below). Anne Mulkern found that 100 top government regulators appointed by President Bush are advocates for the industries they are supposed to regulate.

"In at least 20 cases, those former industry advocates have helped their agencies write, shape or push for policy shifts that benefit their former industries. They knew which changes to make because they had pushed for them as industry advocates."

..........

Bush's embrace of lobbyists marks a key difference because it allows "those who are affected by the regulations to determine what the ground rules should be," said David Cohen, co-director of the Advocacy Institute, which helps teach nonprofits how to lobby in Washington.

While previous Republican presidents hired lobbyists, "the Bush administration has made it rise in geometric proportions," Cohen said, meaning Bush is "capturing the instruments of government and using them for the ends" that favor Bush's political supporters.

"In the Bush administration," said U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., "the foxes are guarding the foxes, and the middle-class hens are getting plucked."

..................

======================
Advocates turned regulators:


======================
Alliance for Human Research Protection
AHRP is a national network of lay people and professionals dedicated to advancing responsible and ethical medical research practices, to ensure that the human rights, dignity and welfare of human subjects are protected, and to minimize the risks associated with such endeavors.

WASHINGTON, April 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.asp?n=1&neID=200704262170.1_1838000f49fd8450

The United States has intervened in three qui tam suits accusing HealthEssentials Solutions Inc. (HES) of false claims billings to Medicare, the Justice Department announced today. Specifically, HES is accused of upcoding -- the practice of improperly assigning a diagnosis code to a patient discharge that is not supported by the medical record for the purpose of obtaining a higher level of reimbursement. Additionally, it is alleged that the Kentucky-based provider of geriatric care knowingly charged Medicare for medically unnecessary services.....

==========================
And, in a move that should have come long, long ago:

Strike Force Formed to Target Fraudulent Billing of Medicare Program by Health Care Companies
First Eight Weeks of Strike Force Operation Nets 34 Indicted Cases Involving More Than $142 Million in Billing

WASHINGTON, May 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-09-2007/0004584988&EDATE=

Thirty-eight people have
been arrested in the first phase of a targeted criminal, civil and
administrative effort against individuals and health care companies that
fraudulently bill the Medicare program, Attorney General Alberto R.
Gonzales and Secretary Michael Leavitt of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services announced today.
The arrests in the Southern District of Florida are the result of the
establishment of a multi-agency team of federal, state and local
investigators designed specifically to combat Medicare fraud through the
use of real-time analysis of Medicare billing data. Since the first phase
of strike force operations began on March 1, 2007 in southern Florida, the
strike force has obtained indictments ...............

The Denver Post - May 23, 2004 Sunday FINAL EDITION
Watchdogs or lap dogs? When advocates become regulators President
Bush has installed more than 100 top officials who were once lobbyists,
attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee.
BYLINE: Anne C. Mulkern , Denver Post Staff Writer

This article is no longer online from DP. It is art of the PDF Exhibit 1, a compilation of articles on the topic.

Thomas A. Scully, the official who ran Medicare and Medicaid for the last two ....
said David Cohen, co-director of the Advocacy Institute,
www.citizensforethics.org/files/execcorruption/exhibits/SCULLYEXHIBITS.pdf -
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
Search Google to view as HTML = http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22David+Cohen%22+%22Advocacy+Institute%22+medicare&btnG=Search

Context is part of the BIG picture. Varous industries benefit from Bush transision.

=====================
Context: Largest Hospital Chain in US Settles with Government over Allegations of Health Care Fraud'
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=HCASettlesDOJLawsuit062003&scale=2#HCASettlesDOJLawsuit062003

(This is a scalable context timeline. It contains events related to the event June 26, 2003: Largest Hospital Chain in US Settles with Government over Allegations of Health Care Fraud. You can narrow or broaden the context of this timeline by adjusting the zoom level.)

**December 14, 2000: Largest Hospital Chain in US Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Government
HCA Inc., the largest for-profit hospital chain in the US, reaches a settlement with the Justice Department over allegations of having defrauded the government. HCA is owned by the family of Senate majority leader Bill Frist. As part of the agreement, the company pleads guilty to 14 criminal counts and agrees to pay more than $840 million in criminal fines, civil penalties, and damages. It is the largest fraud settlement in US history. ........

**May 29, 2001: Former Lobbyist for For-Profit Hospitals Sworn in as head of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Thomas A. Scully is sworn in as head of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to joining the Bush administration, Scully served as president and chief executive officer of the Federation of American Hospitals, a trade association that lobbies on behalf of 1,700 privately-owned and managed community hospitals and health systems. He held that position for six years and was making $675,000 a year when he left. As the administrator of HCFA, he will be paid a salary of $134,000 a year. ..............

**June 22, 2001: Wall Street Journal: Justice Department Has Frozen Lawsuits Against Power Companies
... (DOJ) has put all of its New Source Review (NSR) investigations on hold,... dozens of firms accused by the EPA, under Clinton,...

March 28, 2002-November 2002: Medicare Administrator Allegedly Negotiates Settlement with HCA Behind DOJ’s Back that is ‘Too Lenient.’ ........

**June 26, 2003: Largest Hospital Chain in US Settles with Government over Allegations of Health Care Fraud
HCA Inc. and the US Justice Department sign a settlement agreement, resolving allegations that the company paid kickbacks to physicians and submitted false cost reports and fraudulent bills to Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health programs. Under the terms of the agreement, HCA, the country’s largest for-profit hospital chain, will pay the US government $631 million in civil penalties and damages. .........

Justice Dept. Delays Big Medicare Settlement
By ROBERT PEAR - November 19, 2002
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9A03E7DA1E30F93AA25752C1A9649C8B63

....... some members of Congress and some people in the health care industry say the government appears to be pursuing health care fraud less aggressively. The change, they say, has occurred since Thomas A. Scully, a former hospital lobbyist, became administrator of the Medicare program last year.

In a recent letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who is to become chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in the new Congress, cited the HCA case as evidence that the department ''is not effectively enforcing the False Claims Act,'' one of the government's primary weapons against fraud. ..........

Mr. Grassley said he was ''extremely troubled'' by complaints he had received from numerous government whistle-blowers .... Mr. Grassley said, it appears that Medicare officials are ''seeking to allow HCA to resolve more than $1 billion of liability to the Medicare program for only $250 million, based on little to no evidence supporting this low figure.''

HCA and its affiliates own and operate 180 hospitals. Medicare accounts for 38 percent of the company's hospital admissions and its inpatient revenue. ......

Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty to Depart DoJ. The resignations continue in the USA firings scandals.

....Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said McNulty’s resignation still falls short.

“It seems ironic that Paul McNulty who at least tried to level with the committee goes while Gonzales who stonewalled the committee is still in charge,” Schumer said. “This administration owes us a lot better.”
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gonzales-second-in-command-resigns-2007-05-14.html


========================
Statement of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales on the
Resignation of Deputy Attorney General Paul J. Mcnulty
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/May/07_ag_357.html


The Department of Justice will be losing a dynamic and thoughtful leader with the departure of Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. Paul announced today that he would leave the Department later this summer after more than eight years of service.

In his position as Deputy Attorney General, for which he was confirmed in March 2006 and served in an acting capacity since November 2005, Paul has been an effective manager of day-to-day operations. He has also been the principal driver of the Department’s policies and efforts to prevent corporate fraud and stop those who seek to defraud the taxpayers through fraudulent procurement practices. In addition, he has made significant contributions to establishing the rule of law in Iraq. Before serving as Deputy, Paul was U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, where he successfully prosecuted some of our Nation's highest profile cases in the War on Terror. From 1990-1993, he served in the Department as the director of the Office of Policy and Communications under Attorney General William P. Barr.

Paul’s long career in public service includes his work for the U.S. Congress and the Commonwealth of Virginia, and there can be no doubt that the Nation has benefited from his selfless dedication to good government.

Paul is an outstanding public servant and a fine attorney who has been valued here at the Department, by me and so many others, as both a colleague and a friend. He will be missed. On behalf of the Department, I wish him well in his future endeavors.

###

Testimony of Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty
Senate Judiciary Committee - http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=2054&wit_id=2742

“The Thompson Memorandum’s Effect on the Right to Counsel in Corporate Investigations”
September 12, 2006

Senator Leahy captured the prevailing mood on Capitol Hill and in the country when he observed during a hearing of this Committee in July 2002 that “We cannot have a system where a pickpocket who steals 50 dollars faces more jail time than a CEO who steals 50 million dollars. The integrity of our judicial system depends on accountability. In addition, as the mounting scandals and declining stock market have demonstrated, the integrity of our public markets depends on the same accountability.”

...................

The charging analysis in the Thompson Memo is nothing more than a structured recitation of what common sense would lead a prosecutor to consider. It tells a prosecutor, in determining whether to charge a corporation, to consider nine factors, including the nature and severity of the alleged conduct, its pervasiveness, a corporation’s history of similar conduct, the existence and adequacy of the corporation’s compliance program, and whether the corporation cooperated in the course of the government’s investigation.

Let me step back for a minute to put this in context. The Department opens an investigation of a corporation and the company tells us it wants to fully cooperate. We ask the company to tell us the facts: what happened, who did it and how did they do it. Often, the company has hired attorneys to conduct an internal investigation, and it has learned the facts through the interviews conducted during that investigation, interviews covered by the attorney client and work product protections. If the company wants to cooperate, it has to tell us the facts and identify the wrongdoers. If the company can do that without waiving the privilege, the Department is satisfied and we are happy to work with the company to eliminate or minimize any need for privilege waivers. But if the company can’t get us the facts and identify the culprits without waiving the privilege, for whatever reason, then prosecutors may ask the company – which has volunteered to cooperate – to waive the privilege in certain respects. That, Senators, is what this is all about. Frankly, I have a hard time understanding the criticisms from corporations which claim they want to cooperate, and then complain when we ask them to disclose the facts and evidence they have uncovered.

Corporations under investigation sometimes profess factual and legal corporate innocence. A prosecutor cannot take that claim at face value. The government has a duty to conduct an independent investigation in that circumstance as well, but diligent counsel on both sides often realize that access to the results of an internal investigation would obviously assist the government in conducting a more streamlined inquiry, which would benefit everyone.

We see nothing wrong in asking a corporation to disclose to us the results of their internal investigation to assist us in investigating a corporation’s claim of innocence.............

New DOJ Guidelines Tone Down Corporate Fraud Prosecutions

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/item/?ci=22930

Date Published: 12/22/2006
With Richard Cellini, attorney and Integrity Interactive vice president.

Question: What is the Thompson Memo? Why is it problematic?
Cellini: The U.S. Department of Justice is the primary law enforcement arm of the U.S. government... The department frequently indicts corporate executives who have broken the law in their capacity as company officers. When the alleged illegal conduct involves not just a few isolated or "rogue" executives but the entire company, the department will actually indict not just the company's officers, but the corporate entity itself. The indictment of accounting firm Arthur Andersen is a memorable example.
Of course, corporate entities are abstract entities that cannot be jailed. ....

The department is aware that innocent people can be hurt badly when their company is indicted. For this reason, it follows detailed guidelines when weighing the decision to indict. Since January 2003, these guidelines have been written down and set forth in a document known as the "Thompson Memo" (named after then-Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, who issued these formal written guidelines to federal prosecutors located around the country).
The Thompson Memo sets forth nine different factors for prosecutors to weigh ....

Question: What is the McNulty Memo, and what does it do?
Cellini: On Dec. 12, 2006, Paul McNulty, the incumbent Deputy Attorney General, issued a revised memorandum to prosecutors outlining the factors they should consider when deciding to charge corporate entities with wrongdoing. This memorandum replaces the Thompson Memo and will inevitably come to be known as the McNulty Memo.
The McNulty Memo chooses sides in the war between the factor that rewards companies for establishing effective internal compliance programs and the factor that punishes companies for failing to voluntarily disclose adverse information turned up by those very same programs. Specifically, the McNulty Memo dramatically limits the circumstances under which it will require corporations to waive the attorney/client privilege. In other words, the Justice Department has made a choice and has come down on the side of encouraging companies to establish compliance programs (even at the expense of giving up its power to force companies to disclose unfavorable information uncovered by those programs)...............

DOJ Revises Corporate Fraud Procedures
Jason McLure - Legal Times - December 13, 2006
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1165917921963


Bending to pressure from Congress, a federal judge and a lobbying campaign by business and legal groups, the Justice Department announced a number of immediate changes to its corporate-fraud charging policies Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors will be required to seek approval from senior Justice Department officials in Washington, D.C., before requesting that a company turn over the results of an internal investigation or the strategic advice of the company's lawyers.

In addition, with rare exception, prosecutors will no longer be allowed to pressure companies to cut off legal fees to executives or employees under scrutiny in fraud investigations. Previously, companies could earn "cooperation credit" with the government in certain cases by cutting off those fees. Such credit was an important factor for companies seeking to avoid a potentially crippling criminal indictment.

The changes, announced in a Tuesday speech by Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty at a legal conference in New York, are a step back from the government's aggressive anti-fraud prosecution tactics outlined in the so-called Thompson memo, named for former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, in 2003.

In the speech, McNulty said the new guidelines were designed to address the "perception, well founded -- or not," that the Justice Department's policies were "chilling attorney-client communications" and hurting the effectiveness of corporate lawyers ...................

kpete Wed May-16-07 06:08 PM - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x903624

50 US Attorney Generals Wanted Gonzales To Investigate Oil Industry - HE REFUSED
Judiciary Hearing on Oil Prices and Market Failure: A Federal Investigation Denied
May 16th, 2007 by Jesse Lee
http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=386

The Judiciary Committee Task Force on Antitrust has concluded its hearing, “Prices at the Pump: Market Failure and the Oil Industry.” Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General for the State of Connecticut, describes a meeting he had with US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales requesting a federal investigation into the oil industry: ...........

maddezmom Fri May-18-07 04:02 PM - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2851306

Salazar: Gonzales should resign
Denver Post - http://www.denverpost.com/avalanche/ci_5929412

U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar today called for the resignation of his friend, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, whose leadership he said had tarnished the Department of Justice.

"I arrive at the decision with a heavy heart and disappointment," said Salazar, D-Colo......

He said he believed there was political influence at the Department of Justice and a possibly "litmus test" applied to U.S. attorneys.

The Kansas City Star is solidly behind the "voter fraud" apologism on this issue. The GIANT elephant in the room, or should I say elephants, are the Medicare fraud investigation of Tenet by Graves, and Missouri cronyism in the form of payola to the Graves family. See also a thread that led to this one:
Missouri attorney a focus in USA firings = Bradley Schlozman
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x832164

==================
Graves agrees to meet with Senate committee on same day as man who replaced him as U.S. attorney.
By DAVE HELLING
The Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/113744.html

Todd Graves could be questioned about White House efforts to drum up cases against voter fraud.
Former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves will tell his story to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Graves said Friday he would testify about his removal from the Western District of Missouri post on June 5, after Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess.

“I’m proud of my record as a prosecutor, and I will not be bashful in telling them what little I know about the current mess at the Department of Justice,”
................
Even Republicans in the Senate are backing away from Gonzales. This week, Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts and Missouri Sen. Kit Bond suggested the attorney general should think about stepping aside. “The president might decide that the current leadership remaining at (the Department of Justice) is doing more harm than good,” Bond told the Associated Press Thursday. ...........

The numbers in these threads are making their way around Capital Hill, it seems. Adroit WA Post reporters are stating:

They write, Sen. "Coleman said that the news broken by The Post's Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein that the Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials had previously acknowledged -- between 25 to 30 prosecutors -- was a bridge too far."

==============================
Senate GOP Opposition to AG Builds
By Paul Kane | May 18, 2007; 4:41 PM ET
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2007/05/senate_gop_opposition_to_ag_bu.html

In late April, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) told reporters Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had a "huge credibility issue" regarding the mass firings of U.S. attorneys last year.

But, telegraphing his own spin, Coleman then said he was "walking up to the line" without actually crossing it and calling for Gonzales to resign, something that only President Bush should do.

Well, no more.

Yesterday, Coleman said that the news broken by The Post's Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein that the Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials had previously acknowledged -- between 25 to 30 prosecutors -- was a bridge too far. "Attorney General Gonzales is unable to provide the type of leadership needed to effectively run the department," Coleman said.

Coleman became the sixth Senate Republican to call for Gonzales's resignation. .... Senate Republicans piled on the attorney general this week, creating fresh doubts about his long-term hold on the job.

Here's a Capitol Briefing breakdown of Senate Republicans who have been most outspoken on Gonzales. Special thanks to the guys at Talking Points Memo for maintaining a similar whip count on Republican opposition to Gonzales.

THE RESIGN NOW CROWD ...............

Does this NY Times Opinion really understand the BIG picture. Is it "the interests of the Republican Party" or is it a matter of public corruption. Are the interests in question just $$BILLIONS$$ while the Republican Party is also being controlled by the same political actors as those committing the misdeeds. Hey, some of my friends and relatives are loyal Republicans, and the USAs were not fired in their interests.

NO, I'd say "the interests of the Republican Party" have been overthrown along with the Executive, the DoJ, Defense (lies creating a war), and other entities. Bushco's de-democratization of USG proved to be very contrary to "the interests of the Republican Party" in 2006 and will destroy it in 2008 unless the Republican Party acts to throw the cabal out now. That's another real reason this scandal matters. The end sought in the opinion, to ".... re-establish that in the United States, the legal system does not work to advance the interests of a political party," will eventually be accomplished, hopefully by democratic means. It can best and most quickly be accomplished by cooperation of the political parties in the form of impeachment. A no-confidence vote will not do it.

======================
Why This Scandal Matters
Published: May 21, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/21/opinion/21mon1.html

As Monica Goodling, a key player in the United States attorney scandal, prepares to testify before Congress on Wednesday, the administration’s strategy is clear. It has offered up implausible excuses, hidden the most damaging evidence and feigned memory lapses, while hoping that the public’s attention moves on. But this scandal is too important for the public or Congress to move on. This story should not end until Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is gone, and the serious damage that has been done to the Justice Department is repaired.

The Justice Department is no ordinary agency. Its 93 United States attorney offices, scattered across the country, prosecute federal crimes ranging from public corruption to terrorism. These prosecutors have enormous power: they can wiretap people’s homes, seize property and put people in jail for life. They can destroy businesses, and affect the outcomes of elections. ......

.....It is now clear that United States attorneys were pressured to act in the interests of the Republican Party, and lost their job if they failed to do so......