Health issues become more significant once you hit age 65 and older, and with the cost of living these days, many older people need help getting and paying for the healthcare they need. That’s where Medicare comes in.
Medicare is federally funded health insurance for older people and people who have yet to reach that age but who suffer from certain health issues. This is one of the major ways the US government helps citizens over the age of 65 to get better or stay healthy.
Over 66 million Americans depend on Medicare to get help from a doctor and pay their medical bills, making it absolutely critical to put a stop to Medicare fraud.
Medicare fraud is stealing
This kind of fraud is rampant with fraudsters showing little or no remorse for the money they’re basically stealing from sick and aging Americans, many of whom struggle to even just afford decent healthcare.
Medicare fraud diverts government money that should’ve gone to help the sick into the pockets of the fraudsters, by billing for treatments that weren’t even given or making treatments that were given seem more complicated (and therefore more expensive) than they actually were.
Medicare fraud takes many other forms, such as prescribing certain, more expensive treatments to a patient who doesn’t even need them or giving them medical devices that are damaged or don’t even work.
In such cases, the fraudsters aren’t just stealing healthcare funds, but actually putting the lives of those innocent, older patients in grave danger.
Help for medical whistleblowers
Brave whistleblowers can help hold perpetrators of Medicare fraud accountable for their crimes, and hopefully encourage other courageous individuals who witness this fraud to stand up and do the right thing.
But these whistleblowers have an uphill battle to fight if they choose to do this alone, what with the legal complexities of going after oftentimes huge medical companies with thousands and even millions of dollars at stake. And that’s where Medicare fraud attorneys come in.
Medicare fraud attorneys aren’t just any lawyers — these are lawyers with the specialized know-how for filing a case against errant healthcare providers. These cases are often long and drawn out, but a good Medicare fraud attorney can help you see it through to the end.
Know the right laws
In the first place, your Medicare Fraud attorney will be more than familiar with laws specifically meant to fight this kind of fraud. There’s the False Claims Act, which penalizes fraudsters who make false claims to get more money from the government.
The Act comes with a qui tam provision which makes it possible for whistleblowers to take the government’s part by suing these fraudsters; in this case, the healthcare providers who claim certain, often large amounts from Medicare for things like falsified treatments.
There are also other laws like the Anti Kickback Statute which goes after healthcare providers who prescribe medicine or treatments, or refer patients to certain doctors or clinics for huge amounts of money, luxurious vacations, or similar incentives.
Have the requisite experience
Medicare fraud attorneys won’t just know all the right laws inside out but also have a track record of invoking these laws in actual Medicare fraud cases. They will have helped multiple whistleblowers with cases of their own in exposing erring healthcare providers, and seeing them through to a successful conclusion.
This experience is bound to come in handy in building a case against the provider you mean to blow the whistle on, as well as when the time comes for your case to go to court.
Protect you from retaliation
What makes whistleblowers so brave to begin with is going up against healthcare providers, which are often large companies backed by a lot of financial and even legal resources. It often happens that these whistleblowers actually worked for these companies, sometimes for several years.
It’s not unusual for a company to get back at these whistleblowers by firing or demoting them. This is why whistleblowers really stand to benefit from the advice and guidance of a good Medicare fraud attorney who will be familiar with all the legal protections for whistleblowers.
Help you get compensated
A good Medicare fraud attorney will also help see to it that you are rewarded for doing the right thing. Under the law, whistleblowers that stand up to Medicare fraud can receive from 15 to 30% of the money that was stolen from the government.
Your attorney can not only help the government get this money back by pursuing the whistleblower’s case, but also negotiate for a whistleblower to receive as big a percentage of it as possible as their reward.
Help you get the outcome that needs to happen
The successful outcome of a Medicare fraud whistleblower case is primarily to make the healthcare provider stop committing more fraud, and pay back what they’ve stolen from the government and the sick people who need it most.
Even when a whistleblower case lasts years, as it often does, Medicare attorneys can help whistleblowers stay the course and make things right. If you’re seriously thinking about blowing the whistle on Medicare fraud, talk to Medicare fraud attorneys you can trust, today.
Also Read: Creating a Workplace That Supports Employee Comfort and Health
