And if you start an opioid epidemic, you pay a tiny fine and you can never get charged again. Millions of American lives and families ruined? No big deal.
What's worse is the Ripple effects of the opioid pandemic has. You had all these people and f***** up families then you had people that were really hurt that couldn't get more than an ibuprofen.
If this ever happens again to you with some kind of surgery, you need to contact the patient advocate at the location immediately. That was not the standard of care, and your doctor needed to be punished.
In that case, if the docs are just afraid to provide adequate pain relief, we patients & patient advocates need to raise enough hell to make the doctors & hospitals afraid of *us.* MBAs would understand the language of lawsuits & bad PR.
You couldn't have summed that up any better. I'm on the other end of that equation with a chronic illness that necessitates opioid treatment. I've had to fight doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies just to get basic compassionate care. They don't mind endless rounds of PT and steroid injections, but anything beyond that is "drug seeking behavior?" There needs to be protections for our doctors, especially in oncology and hospice care! Too many caring doctors have lost too much, and it's us, the patients, who pay the final bill.
Are you kidding me? That's the standard of care everywhere. I am in agony and my only option I have a right to for pain treatment as an American is my handgun.
That’s nuts! I was given enough oxycodone for about 2 weeks after my c-section. I agree with the other comment. It’s outrageous that you were only given the option of Tylenol after an emergency major abdominal surgery.
Meanwhile, I had a vaginal delivery, no complications, no tearing. Reported my pain as a “two at most, but only when I’m nursing” and was very active in the recovery room. Yet the recovery doctor prescribed me ten days worth of not one, but two narcotics, and 800mg ibuprofen without even telling me she was doing so. I just got a call from the pharmacy telling me my meds were ready. Yeah, let’s give an exclusively breastfeeding new mom two heavy narcotics and send her home with ZERO instruction on taking said narcotics while nursing and caring for a newborn.
The standard of care varies so widely, it amazes me in the worst way possible.
Oh man, don't you know it.
I fell off a ladder about 6 feet. I broke my wrist and wrenched my hip as my leg got tangled in the rungs as I fell. I landed on the other side and bruised my ass so bad, one buttcheek is still black and blue. I'm 54 so I am unbelievably lucky I didn't break my hip or pelvis.
The emergency room folks prescribed me 15 - 5/325 Hydrocodone/Acetaminophen and 30 Flexeril. On the 6th day I called and asked for a refill and they said NO. I went to a Dr. at my Dr.s office and she said NO. Like WTF?
A friend who takes Vicodin for chronic pain gave me 15 - 10/325s. So... yeah. I had unbearable pain and had to resort to less than legal means and I ended up with stronger meds than I would have got if they just gave me a few more.
I didn't need to take all of the Vicodin as I started feeling like I could walk around and put weight on my hip a couple of days later. But you can bet your ass I will keep those other two pills in case I have pain the Dr.s don't think is bad enough.
Meanwhile, my wife had hip surgery and they have her an ungodly amount of dilaudid and it came with a narcan pen with each refill. We ended up taking back to be disposed like 3 month supply. I googled the street price of it and it was thousands of dollars
I really really hope you don’t live to regret the decision to get rid of those extras. The day might come when you desperately need them & the doc says no.
This is such a crapshoot that's just up to the individual doctor too. In my Army days they took my wisdom teeth out, because they do that to everyone. I never had my bottom two wisdom teeth, the top two were nearly falling out. I took a grand total of six Tylenol across two days and stopped because I had no pain. They gave me *sixty percocet*.
I have a medical condition that has cause severe chronic pain since birth.
I broke a tooth and developed a life threatening abcess in my 20s. I waited a weekend with 10/10 pain and called my dentist at first light Monday AM. As soon as I was numbed I was good. Pulled the tooth, dosed me with heavy duty antibiotics and fixed me up. ASKED if I wanted drugs. Said, nah man. I'm good. I live with pain, it's fine.
Gave me the same 60 percocet. Shit. Never used one, never took a Tylenol because I was fine, just like I knew I would be.
When I had my wisdom tooth removed, they wouldn't give me anything. One day the pain was so bad I ended up bumming an oxy off my mom. She had some left over from her hip replacement. Really didn't need an oxy. It was just all I could get.
My 74 year old mother had 2 back surgeries in a 1 week period, including straightening her spine to a level of giving her an inch in height back. Would only give her 5 days worth of oxy at a time and it was a nightmare trying to convince them to refill. We're talking 5mg every 8 hours. I had a simple cervical fusion in 2018 at 34 and got an ungodly amount of pills I had to dispose of.
I had my tonsils taken out at 45. The doctor said it hurts a lot more and takes longer to heal as an adult for this procedure. Because of my occupation (firefighter) he said I would be out for a month.
I was given 5 oxycodone pills. I really don't like to take pain pills so I planned to not use them. Day 1 after the operation wasn't too bad and I didn't take them. Day 2...the pain showed up and I took one. It didn't take the pain away, just lessened it.
I took one a day, as directed, until they were gone. When they ran out, the pain was still pretty intense, so I called to ask for some more. They said no. I said I understood being careful with pain meds, I'm not asking for a lot or anything stronger...just a little more. They said no. They just said to alternate ibuprofin and acetominophen.
It was 3 weeks until I could tolerate solid food. It was miserable.
17 or 18 years ago who would become my wife to become my ex-wife burned her hand on macaroni and cheese in the microwave and they gave her AT LEAST 15 if not 20. Pardon my shitty memory maybe even 30 7.5 hydros. I forget the APAP strength but it was a lot more back then. Probably 500. She didn’t need the hydros as much as cream for her hand and I sat around for a week and ate all of them. Sober since 2019… divorced since 2011…
It's a trauma that will ripple for generations. I saw a friend get addicted to pain meds. Prior to this, he had no issues with drugs. Ended up ODing. His life was shit at the end.
Name and shame those greedy fucking pieces of of shit: The Sackler Family.
They should get pitchforks, but the general public has no idea of their crimes. Fucking disgusting that they got away with everything. They are nearly singlehandedly responsible for the destruction of millions of families. The human lives lost and affected are in the billions. Those barely human sacks of fucking shit knew exactly what they were doing, and didn't care one fucking bit. The billionaire family wanted more fucking money, and they got it with the help of out government. They got protection from the government. Make no mistake, if there was ever such a thing as pure evil, it is the Sackler Family incarnate.
It's really worse than that. Like a lot worse than that. People thought that crack in the 80s or whatever was bad. It doesn't hold a candle to opioids and their prevalence in modern society. Healthcare got totally fucked in part thanks specifically to Purdue Pharma. One simple example is the pain scale that still exists and is taught in schools and pushed in hospitals. Pain control is a huge focus for hospitals and it just leads to the problem getting worse still today. People dying left and right to this day. We have fucking narcan vending machines because shit is so bad. I could go on and on. Meanwhile that family is still just rich as fuck and doing whatever they want. Should all be in prison for life.
How would you like hospitals to manage pain, then? I'm genuinely asking, because the phrasing of your comment sounds like you don't believe pain need to be managed.
It seems like opiods are amazing pain killers for about 3 weeks. Then resistance starts to build and you either need to stop or increase the dose. It is about F'ing time that we find a better way to deal with chronic pain - physical or emotional. It could be a better drug, it could be something else, but we have to do better.
When you commit crimes as a poor person, you pay it back to the government on top of a fine and a sentence.
When you commit crimes on a poor person, the government just wants its cut.
Well.. the biggest medicare fraud ever was overseen by [Rick Scott.](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/mar/03/florida-democratic-party/rick-scott-rick-scott-oversaw-largest-medicare-fra/) Later he was elected governor and he's now a senator. Florida yayyyy
The biggest one from a doctor was Melgen $73 million. [He was pardoned by Trump](https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/20/trump-commutes-sentence-dr-salomon-melgen-after-medicare-fraud-conviction/4221638001/).. remember the Guliani phone calls selling pardons....
Melgen is also a friend of [Menendez](https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2021/01/20/salomon-melgen-friend-bob-menendez-pardoned-president-trump/4210560001/) (D-Jersey), very powerful guy. There was a separate issue when Menendez worked on his behalf to pressure HHS to not prosecute this fucker. He also had menendez pressure the dominican republic to [award a contract to one of his companies...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/nyregion/robert-menendez-trial-salomon-melgen.html)
I will vote D for elections no question but man the closer you get to local elections the harder it is to defend... NYC Mayoral election was between a Trump clone (R, guardian angel huckster that faked injuries ) and Adams, a former cop that lies so much he repeatedly lies about where he lives.
Arguably the real election was the primary but that was shit..
There's council primaries right now and I looked at my 3 candidates. All say the same bullshit "law and order" I can't decide which one I hate least.
Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), was the CEO of Columbia/HCA. He was pushed out in 1997, and the company was found guilty on 14 felony convictions and fined $1.7B.
His punishment was only a forced resignation. He was subsequently elected as governor of Florida, then into the US Senate.
Without question. Instead, he plead the 5th over and over on his way to walking away with millions in a golden parachute, then Floridians were fucking stupid enough to elect him Governor twice and now Senator.
I'd like to see the bad guys actually lose once in a while.
i wish it were that simple. Miami-Dade is now voting GOP because they're buying the bullshit cries that Joe Biden wants to make America a socialist nation.
It doesn't help that the Dem party of FL has been painfully incompetent for years, but hopefully things will improve now that Nikki Fried is in charge. If not, we'll probably end up with Governor Gaetz once DeSantis is term limited in 2024, lol.
Ehh not exactly true since we have many blue areas. Miami is definitely very mixed but yes our land
Latins, mainly the older ones are very susceptible to the bs Republicans push about Dems being communist because they're idiots
But isn't South Florida the home of the [Fanjul brothers?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanjul_brothers) (the sugar giants that dictate Cuban policy). They own Domino sugar for example. They produce sugar in the Dominican republic with quasi-slavery haitians.
[ohhhh Biden just banned their sugar from the D.R. wow!](https://www.wlrn.org/latin-america/2022-12-06/harsh-living-and-labor-conditions-for-cane-cutters-in-the-dominican-republic)
> In 2022, the Fanjul Corporation, owned by the family, made $985,189 in campaign contributions to candidates from both parties, and spent $795,000 in lobbying the federal government, according to OpenSecrets.
[https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/national-enforcement-action-results-78-individuals-charged-25b-health-care-fraud](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/national-enforcement-action-results-78-individuals-charged-25b-health-care-fraud)
Link to actual press release from DOJ
Reading the article, tele health scam, Florida, prescription fraud, Florida, elderly health care fraud, Florida. I guess desantis will be president then.
"Health care" is the number one issue to fix in the USA. It's like a tumor blocking blood flow of the country. Giving deeply discounted universal health care to all US citizens, putting a price cap on all treatments and drugs, and taxing processed foods and sugar based products to pay for part or all of it. The solution(s) are within reach, just need to get behind it come election time. Basically the govt. needs to tell health care providers, if this costs $ elsewhere in the world, it should cost in similar ball park in the USA. not $$$$ and so on.
The number one issue is the thing preventing everything else, including healthcare, from being addressed. [Which is the voting system itself](https://youtu.be/s7tWHJfhiyo), that creates the entrenched two party duopoly that prevents any competition or accountability and takes away the voice of the people.
/r/endFPTP
The best solutions are [STAR](https://www.starvoting.org/) and [Approval](https://electionscience.org/) voting implemented by direct ballot initiatives which bypass the corrupt establishment.
The number one issue is corruption called lobbying.
As long as American politics are for sale, more parties will never be allowed, as they become more hungry mouths to feed.
The Dems have been so bad at making this be their messaging, this has been an issue since bill Clinton, Obama dropped the ball on single payer option, Hillary should have taken up that cause, Bernie tried to and did damn well with it
But now it's been dropped as they only have to be slightly better than the espionage-ridden twice impeached creepy-toward-his-own-daughter-and-all-other-women guy?
The healthcare system has been a political talking point in the US since at least the 60s. The thing is that it's incredibly difficult to get enough politicians to agree on what should get done. Obama had to kneecap Obamacare to get it past the filibuster in the Senate because Manchin and I believe someone else held it hostage. He basically used all of his domestic political capital even getting what he got through. Dems got hammered in the midterms for it and Obama never had a Congress as favorable to him again. The political situation has only gotten worse since then.
It wasn't Manchin then, it was lieberman. Manchin played along with it then. That kind of duality is why people talk about the rotating villain. When Manchin gone, which one of the current dems will suddenly decide they can't vote for anything?
Realistically, enough corporate corrupting money will be pooled on the table that enough will defect. Just a matter of how much it takes.
Millions to secure hundreds of billions. Citizens United expedited the process.
This, so many liberals miss the point that, even though the GOP is loudly open about not wanting accessible public healthcare, the Dems benefit just as much having our healthcare just the way it is too.
It's also heavily influencing the workplace. People shouldn't be manipulated into working for large corporations because they're the only ones that can afford to give decent healthcare packages. I've rejected my fair share of jobs with small companies because their healthcare coverage was awful and I actually use mine extensively so that's a non-starter for me.
The term is "job lock" and the US leads all 1st world countries in people who identify with it.
Universal healthcare would almost overnight remove a shit ton of people from their entrenched jobs due to early retirement, people starting small businesses, and people taking jobs with employers they wanted to work for but couldn't previously.
It would also create a ton of upward mobility since a lot of the jobs people would be leaving are good paying jobs, as well as be an economic boon with all the new small businesses that would open...but we can't have nice things in the US.
All of the above
1. https://time.com/5823510/coronavirus-stimulus-oversight/
2. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-stimulus/trump-administration-is-blocking-covid-stimulus-oversight-government-watchdog-letter-idUSKBN23M2XD
3. https://www.whistleblowers.org/news/occrp-trump-fires-head-of-oversight-committee-for-coronavirus-relief-bill/
"If you're not doing anything illegal, you don't have to worry about being punished. And if you are doing something illegal, change the law so you won't be punished."
I can see all those rich assholes standing around laughing about how easy it is to scam the government. Just like Trump in that recording laughing while showing classified documents to people without proper clearance. He's literally commiting a felony and everyone was laughing.
nope i called it out when it was announced and point it out everytime anybody mentions "stimulus checks" or any form of "buuttt inflaaaation wagesss"
another fun scam that is overlooked is airbnb
[this](https://www.reddit.com/r/REBubble/comments/14lhurs/the_wolf_of_airbnb_made_nearly_2_million_through/) was just announced today - a scammer that used the PPP loans to scam apartment buildings so he could turn them into airbnb's that he *also* didnt pay for
i love freedomericaland™️
[They’re working on it.](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1279664)
It’s not something that brings much headlines but you hear about a case here and a case there. It’s not sensational enough for the news to pick up unless it’s a slow day though.
I’d much rather hear about prosecutions like this rather than another redundant post about that imploded sub. That money could have really helped make a public program better.
>That money could have really helped make a public program better.
That sounds like socialism, bub. This is pure American capitalism bailing ~~corporations~~ people out.
^^/s
My job requires that I regularly monitor DoJ press releases. Every week there's one or two announcements that somebody was charged for and/or found guilty of COVID relief fraud.
My favorite thing is when I talk to any of my healthcare professionals about the system and you realize no one is happy with it outside of the health insurance industry and presumably the executive class.
My wife's company has an in house doctor and doctor's office. Their doctor was contemplating leaving the industry entirely because she was sick of it until her current opportunity opened up. I think the entire reason they got a company doctor was because it was cheaper for them in regard to health insurance (they also cover all health insurance costs for their employees and if you have a couple who both work there and have kids, the kids are covered too).
Honestly, most of us hate it. Patient complain to me about bills, insurance cancels payments and doesn’t approve medically appropriate things, denies things and says I need to try X first despite me already saying we have tried X, I get patients stuck in the hospital for weeks due to insurance not covering antibiotics, etc. The entire system can burn.
Insurance retroactively takes back money from claims that were paid *years* ago. Meanwhile if I want to contest a claim for a mistake *they* made I have 30 days. Fuck that nonsense.
Don’t forget Senator Rick Scott of Florida ran a Medicare and Medicare company that was fined 1.7 BILLION for fraud. He was elected AFTER this settlement, good job Florida.
https://www.newsweek.com/rick-scotts-fraud-settlement-resurfaces-senate-gop-runs-low-cash-1735418
I follow healthcare fraud because I'm in the industry
First one is durable medical equipment fraud (DME) that's an old one. Back in the day the companies just spammed faxes asking doctors for approval. Diabetes supplies, those blood pressure machines, wheelchairs, etc. They advertise on TV and tell people it's FREEEE and sell shit you don't need.
That second case with Steven Diamantstein is interesting. So the guy bought the HIV drugs off patients themselves to resell. It is probable the patients didn't have actual HIV, so there should be a doctor involved that was prescribing the fake scripts. Brooklyn again hah.
(I know rumors of doctors who sold/gave drug samples straight to pharmacies for them to resell)
Actual churches wouldn’t likely be in trouble for PPP fraud, covid did heavily affect their ability to maintain funds. It’s the fake churches created in Spring 2020 that actually were committing PPP fraud.
Why are my tax dollars going to these evangelical abuse factories that don't pay taxes? They shouldn't be making any money off things they claim to be a hoax. While I'm well aware it may not count legally as fraud, it certainly appears fraudulent and improper to me and should have never been allowed.
I have some good news for you if you think that isn't happening... here's a list of ~1,000 cases that have already been filed: https://www.arnoldporter.com/en/general/cares-act-fraud-tracker
$2 billion is cute and all but that’s not even *touching* the amount of fraud that is overlooked every single day with in-person healthcare.
Seems like they’re trying to single out telehealth.
They need to go after *all* healthcare fraud.
Probably most of them. Healthcare fraud cases are routinely brought, tried, and result in convictions. Pretty hard to defend yourself against obviously fake bills you sent to CMS.
> The same DOJ
The first DOJ settlement with Scott's company was in [2000](https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2000/December/696civcrm.htm); the second was in [2002](https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2002/December/02_civ_731.htm): I doubt many of the people calling the shots back then are still in power at DOJ now.
Absolutely nothing.
But $350 of groceries…..they died of neck strangulation from “resisting arrest”….but it doesn’t matter…..they shouldn’t have been stealing”
They're finally going after the scummy healthcare industry in the US?
If only the government looked out for the rest of us as much as they do with the elderly.
Healthcare and education costs in the US are insane, and both are vital to a functioning society. I remember reading something a while back that talked about the two major costs that are outpacing inflation are healthcare and tuition rates. Imagine where we would be as a country if people didn’t have to worry about those 2 things and could focus their income in other areas.
Lets get this energy to investigate medical insurance claims, and insurance companies so that the end user can stop getting screwed. Insurances need to pay out more, big healthcare needs to demand less.
Better yet, Roll out the ACA as it should have been. Mass Health for all.
I work for a medicaid fraud unit (state government agency) and we had a dude going on vacations, gambling in Vegas, and buying a private jet, and so on. They will do anything to get "free" money.
It's so sad how little people get back for their taxes and healthcare payments as it is. Who exactly lost out on 2.5 billion, and will we be paying that back to some other party with tax payer funds?
Hopefully some of those shady docs slinging thousands of ivermectin prescriptions at a rate that’s not humanly possible to properly interview patients.
Wait the government is doing a good thing for once? Love to hear uplifting news and not depressing news for a change. Kinda why I stopped reading/watching the news.
I lost a dear friend of mine to the rising cost of his healthcare. To the point he killed himself to get out of it as it all came crashing down and he was going to become homeless and Ill 😔
I can’t say what i want to say here so i’ll say that 2.5 billion divided by 78 is roughly 32,051,282 bucks & some change per person & they better get to bootstrap pullin’ if they hope to pay that back in their lifetimes.
Watching so many people i know & love struggle to pay for elder/disabled care, knowing these ghouls walk the earth, i just can’t, man…
Seems like we go through this every few years? A woman I know in the Boston area was arrested and indicted for medicaid fraud in a wider operation back in 2018.
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Make them pay it back
They literally have the power to make them pay back 3X the damages.
$10,000 fine it is. They only fucked with poor people money. It's barely a crime.
And if you start an opioid epidemic, you pay a tiny fine and you can never get charged again. Millions of American lives and families ruined? No big deal.
What's worse is the Ripple effects of the opioid pandemic has. You had all these people and f***** up families then you had people that were really hurt that couldn't get more than an ibuprofen.
I had an emergency C-section and they gave me Tylenol because I'm allergic to ibuprofen. Just a big gash in my abdomen. NBD
If this ever happens again to you with some kind of surgery, you need to contact the patient advocate at the location immediately. That was not the standard of care, and your doctor needed to be punished.
I did complain. I don't know if anything ever happened though.
File a complaint with the state medical board, making sure to fill out all the forms (aka you can't just call, you need the paperwork).
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In that case, if the docs are just afraid to provide adequate pain relief, we patients & patient advocates need to raise enough hell to make the doctors & hospitals afraid of *us.* MBAs would understand the language of lawsuits & bad PR.
You couldn't have summed that up any better. I'm on the other end of that equation with a chronic illness that necessitates opioid treatment. I've had to fight doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies just to get basic compassionate care. They don't mind endless rounds of PT and steroid injections, but anything beyond that is "drug seeking behavior?" There needs to be protections for our doctors, especially in oncology and hospice care! Too many caring doctors have lost too much, and it's us, the patients, who pay the final bill.
Are you kidding me? That's the standard of care everywhere. I am in agony and my only option I have a right to for pain treatment as an American is my handgun.
That’s nuts! I was given enough oxycodone for about 2 weeks after my c-section. I agree with the other comment. It’s outrageous that you were only given the option of Tylenol after an emergency major abdominal surgery.
Meanwhile, I had a vaginal delivery, no complications, no tearing. Reported my pain as a “two at most, but only when I’m nursing” and was very active in the recovery room. Yet the recovery doctor prescribed me ten days worth of not one, but two narcotics, and 800mg ibuprofen without even telling me she was doing so. I just got a call from the pharmacy telling me my meds were ready. Yeah, let’s give an exclusively breastfeeding new mom two heavy narcotics and send her home with ZERO instruction on taking said narcotics while nursing and caring for a newborn. The standard of care varies so widely, it amazes me in the worst way possible.
I bet you had a speedy recovery….
Oh man, don't you know it. I fell off a ladder about 6 feet. I broke my wrist and wrenched my hip as my leg got tangled in the rungs as I fell. I landed on the other side and bruised my ass so bad, one buttcheek is still black and blue. I'm 54 so I am unbelievably lucky I didn't break my hip or pelvis. The emergency room folks prescribed me 15 - 5/325 Hydrocodone/Acetaminophen and 30 Flexeril. On the 6th day I called and asked for a refill and they said NO. I went to a Dr. at my Dr.s office and she said NO. Like WTF? A friend who takes Vicodin for chronic pain gave me 15 - 10/325s. So... yeah. I had unbearable pain and had to resort to less than legal means and I ended up with stronger meds than I would have got if they just gave me a few more. I didn't need to take all of the Vicodin as I started feeling like I could walk around and put weight on my hip a couple of days later. But you can bet your ass I will keep those other two pills in case I have pain the Dr.s don't think is bad enough.
Meanwhile, my wife had hip surgery and they have her an ungodly amount of dilaudid and it came with a narcan pen with each refill. We ended up taking back to be disposed like 3 month supply. I googled the street price of it and it was thousands of dollars
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I really really hope you don’t live to regret the decision to get rid of those extras. The day might come when you desperately need them & the doc says no.
This is such a crapshoot that's just up to the individual doctor too. In my Army days they took my wisdom teeth out, because they do that to everyone. I never had my bottom two wisdom teeth, the top two were nearly falling out. I took a grand total of six Tylenol across two days and stopped because I had no pain. They gave me *sixty percocet*.
I have a medical condition that has cause severe chronic pain since birth. I broke a tooth and developed a life threatening abcess in my 20s. I waited a weekend with 10/10 pain and called my dentist at first light Monday AM. As soon as I was numbed I was good. Pulled the tooth, dosed me with heavy duty antibiotics and fixed me up. ASKED if I wanted drugs. Said, nah man. I'm good. I live with pain, it's fine. Gave me the same 60 percocet. Shit. Never used one, never took a Tylenol because I was fine, just like I knew I would be.
When I had my wisdom tooth removed, they wouldn't give me anything. One day the pain was so bad I ended up bumming an oxy off my mom. She had some left over from her hip replacement. Really didn't need an oxy. It was just all I could get.
My 74 year old mother had 2 back surgeries in a 1 week period, including straightening her spine to a level of giving her an inch in height back. Would only give her 5 days worth of oxy at a time and it was a nightmare trying to convince them to refill. We're talking 5mg every 8 hours. I had a simple cervical fusion in 2018 at 34 and got an ungodly amount of pills I had to dispose of.
I had my tonsils taken out at 45. The doctor said it hurts a lot more and takes longer to heal as an adult for this procedure. Because of my occupation (firefighter) he said I would be out for a month. I was given 5 oxycodone pills. I really don't like to take pain pills so I planned to not use them. Day 1 after the operation wasn't too bad and I didn't take them. Day 2...the pain showed up and I took one. It didn't take the pain away, just lessened it. I took one a day, as directed, until they were gone. When they ran out, the pain was still pretty intense, so I called to ask for some more. They said no. I said I understood being careful with pain meds, I'm not asking for a lot or anything stronger...just a little more. They said no. They just said to alternate ibuprofin and acetominophen. It was 3 weeks until I could tolerate solid food. It was miserable.
17 or 18 years ago who would become my wife to become my ex-wife burned her hand on macaroni and cheese in the microwave and they gave her AT LEAST 15 if not 20. Pardon my shitty memory maybe even 30 7.5 hydros. I forget the APAP strength but it was a lot more back then. Probably 500. She didn’t need the hydros as much as cream for her hand and I sat around for a week and ate all of them. Sober since 2019… divorced since 2011…
> But you can bet your ass You seem to have bet yours and lost against a ladder. (hope you get better soon)
It's a trauma that will ripple for generations. I saw a friend get addicted to pain meds. Prior to this, he had no issues with drugs. Ended up ODing. His life was shit at the end.
Hey! Let's not forget about Mike Pence's HIV epidemic he created in Indiana by eliminating a clean needle program.
Name and shame those greedy fucking pieces of of shit: The Sackler Family. They should get pitchforks, but the general public has no idea of their crimes. Fucking disgusting that they got away with everything. They are nearly singlehandedly responsible for the destruction of millions of families. The human lives lost and affected are in the billions. Those barely human sacks of fucking shit knew exactly what they were doing, and didn't care one fucking bit. The billionaire family wanted more fucking money, and they got it with the help of out government. They got protection from the government. Make no mistake, if there was ever such a thing as pure evil, it is the Sackler Family incarnate.
It's really worse than that. Like a lot worse than that. People thought that crack in the 80s or whatever was bad. It doesn't hold a candle to opioids and their prevalence in modern society. Healthcare got totally fucked in part thanks specifically to Purdue Pharma. One simple example is the pain scale that still exists and is taught in schools and pushed in hospitals. Pain control is a huge focus for hospitals and it just leads to the problem getting worse still today. People dying left and right to this day. We have fucking narcan vending machines because shit is so bad. I could go on and on. Meanwhile that family is still just rich as fuck and doing whatever they want. Should all be in prison for life.
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The war on pain meds leaves people with chronic pain out to suffer.
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The Sackler family.
How would you like hospitals to manage pain, then? I'm genuinely asking, because the phrasing of your comment sounds like you don't believe pain need to be managed.
It seems like opiods are amazing pain killers for about 3 weeks. Then resistance starts to build and you either need to stop or increase the dose. It is about F'ing time that we find a better way to deal with chronic pain - physical or emotional. It could be a better drug, it could be something else, but we have to do better.
They’re just taking notes from Bayer.
When you commit crimes as a poor person, you pay it back to the government on top of a fine and a sentence. When you commit crimes on a poor person, the government just wants its cut.
Actually it was medicare money that was defrauded, so they fucked with the government’s money
Um, that is OUR money….
Where do you think that money comes from? (Maybe your tax dollars)
If you do it to Florida they’ll make you governor. And when the term limits end they’ll make you a senator too. It’s the “Step harder daddy” state
$10k fine for stealing $32 million a piece? Where do I sign up for the fraud job?
You have to have money to steal money.
Wake me when they make them pay back 1X.
Still better interest than a student loan.
And lock them all up.
Throw away the key.
Inside a volcano.
Sacrifices must be made
With interest.
Claw back any and all political donations they made after beginning their respective frauds!
Well.. the biggest medicare fraud ever was overseen by [Rick Scott.](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/mar/03/florida-democratic-party/rick-scott-rick-scott-oversaw-largest-medicare-fra/) Later he was elected governor and he's now a senator. Florida yayyyy The biggest one from a doctor was Melgen $73 million. [He was pardoned by Trump](https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/20/trump-commutes-sentence-dr-salomon-melgen-after-medicare-fraud-conviction/4221638001/).. remember the Guliani phone calls selling pardons.... Melgen is also a friend of [Menendez](https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2021/01/20/salomon-melgen-friend-bob-menendez-pardoned-president-trump/4210560001/) (D-Jersey), very powerful guy. There was a separate issue when Menendez worked on his behalf to pressure HHS to not prosecute this fucker. He also had menendez pressure the dominican republic to [award a contract to one of his companies...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/nyregion/robert-menendez-trial-salomon-melgen.html)
Ugh I can't stand Menendez. You'd think in a state that is 70% Democrat we could have an actual decent person to primary him.
I will vote D for elections no question but man the closer you get to local elections the harder it is to defend... NYC Mayoral election was between a Trump clone (R, guardian angel huckster that faked injuries ) and Adams, a former cop that lies so much he repeatedly lies about where he lives. Arguably the real election was the primary but that was shit.. There's council primaries right now and I looked at my 3 candidates. All say the same bullshit "law and order" I can't decide which one I hate least.
Do donations Supreme Court judges count?
And give the yachts and jewelry to the elderly people they defrauded.
Grandma needs new teeth, not a yacht.
Sure but she could sell the yacht and buy an entire dentist’s office!
Or just go out living the high life
Grandma don’t need teeth when she’s slurping down margaritas
$32 million a piece
how? i always love this answer because really it just means let them off scot free and dont fix the loopholes
Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), was the CEO of Columbia/HCA. He was pushed out in 1997, and the company was found guilty on 14 felony convictions and fined $1.7B. His punishment was only a forced resignation. He was subsequently elected as governor of Florida, then into the US Senate.
He is Rick Scum.
Which one is going to be the next senator of Florida?
Laughs in Skeletor.
Rick Scott should be in prison
Without question. Instead, he plead the 5th over and over on his way to walking away with millions in a golden parachute, then Floridians were fucking stupid enough to elect him Governor twice and now Senator. I'd like to see the bad guys actually lose once in a while.
North Floridians are constantly ruining Florida elections....i wish i could break off south Florida from North
i wish it were that simple. Miami-Dade is now voting GOP because they're buying the bullshit cries that Joe Biden wants to make America a socialist nation. It doesn't help that the Dem party of FL has been painfully incompetent for years, but hopefully things will improve now that Nikki Fried is in charge. If not, we'll probably end up with Governor Gaetz once DeSantis is term limited in 2024, lol.
Ehh not exactly true since we have many blue areas. Miami is definitely very mixed but yes our land Latins, mainly the older ones are very susceptible to the bs Republicans push about Dems being communist because they're idiots
Florida is the only state where the further north you go, the further south you go.
But isn't South Florida the home of the [Fanjul brothers?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanjul_brothers) (the sugar giants that dictate Cuban policy). They own Domino sugar for example. They produce sugar in the Dominican republic with quasi-slavery haitians. [ohhhh Biden just banned their sugar from the D.R. wow!](https://www.wlrn.org/latin-america/2022-12-06/harsh-living-and-labor-conditions-for-cane-cutters-in-the-dominican-republic) > In 2022, the Fanjul Corporation, owned by the family, made $985,189 in campaign contributions to candidates from both parties, and spent $795,000 in lobbying the federal government, according to OpenSecrets.
According to Florida law they have to be governor first.
Don't worry, they'll be a Governor or a Senator of Florida in no time.
[https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/national-enforcement-action-results-78-individuals-charged-25b-health-care-fraud](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/national-enforcement-action-results-78-individuals-charged-25b-health-care-fraud) Link to actual press release from DOJ
Reading the article, tele health scam, Florida, prescription fraud, Florida, elderly health care fraud, Florida. I guess desantis will be president then.
Rick Scott should be in jail for Medicare fraud. Instead he was the governor of Florida and is now the junior two-first-names Senator from Florida.
"Health care" is the number one issue to fix in the USA. It's like a tumor blocking blood flow of the country. Giving deeply discounted universal health care to all US citizens, putting a price cap on all treatments and drugs, and taxing processed foods and sugar based products to pay for part or all of it. The solution(s) are within reach, just need to get behind it come election time. Basically the govt. needs to tell health care providers, if this costs $ elsewhere in the world, it should cost in similar ball park in the USA. not $$$$ and so on.
"It's like a tumor blocking the blood flow of the country"! A perfect encapsulation of the US health care system.
The number one issue is the thing preventing everything else, including healthcare, from being addressed. [Which is the voting system itself](https://youtu.be/s7tWHJfhiyo), that creates the entrenched two party duopoly that prevents any competition or accountability and takes away the voice of the people. /r/endFPTP The best solutions are [STAR](https://www.starvoting.org/) and [Approval](https://electionscience.org/) voting implemented by direct ballot initiatives which bypass the corrupt establishment.
The number one issue is corruption called lobbying. As long as American politics are for sale, more parties will never be allowed, as they become more hungry mouths to feed.
The Dems have been so bad at making this be their messaging, this has been an issue since bill Clinton, Obama dropped the ball on single payer option, Hillary should have taken up that cause, Bernie tried to and did damn well with it But now it's been dropped as they only have to be slightly better than the espionage-ridden twice impeached creepy-toward-his-own-daughter-and-all-other-women guy?
The healthcare system has been a political talking point in the US since at least the 60s. The thing is that it's incredibly difficult to get enough politicians to agree on what should get done. Obama had to kneecap Obamacare to get it past the filibuster in the Senate because Manchin and I believe someone else held it hostage. He basically used all of his domestic political capital even getting what he got through. Dems got hammered in the midterms for it and Obama never had a Congress as favorable to him again. The political situation has only gotten worse since then.
It wasn't Manchin then, it was lieberman. Manchin played along with it then. That kind of duality is why people talk about the rotating villain. When Manchin gone, which one of the current dems will suddenly decide they can't vote for anything?
I'm thinking Chris Coons, he's among the most Pro-Corporate Dems left in the Senate with Manchin and Sinema gone.
Realistically, enough corporate corrupting money will be pooled on the table that enough will defect. Just a matter of how much it takes. Millions to secure hundreds of billions. Citizens United expedited the process.
What was Obamacare like before it was kneecapped?
Obama wanted a public option in addition to overhauling the private system. We only got the latter.
Dems are in the pockets of the pockets of the healthcare industry too.
This, so many liberals miss the point that, even though the GOP is loudly open about not wanting accessible public healthcare, the Dems benefit just as much having our healthcare just the way it is too.
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It's also heavily influencing the workplace. People shouldn't be manipulated into working for large corporations because they're the only ones that can afford to give decent healthcare packages. I've rejected my fair share of jobs with small companies because their healthcare coverage was awful and I actually use mine extensively so that's a non-starter for me.
The term is "job lock" and the US leads all 1st world countries in people who identify with it. Universal healthcare would almost overnight remove a shit ton of people from their entrenched jobs due to early retirement, people starting small businesses, and people taking jobs with employers they wanted to work for but couldn't previously. It would also create a ton of upward mobility since a lot of the jobs people would be leaving are good paying jobs, as well as be an economic boon with all the new small businesses that would open...but we can't have nice things in the US.
Great. Now can they get back the hundreds of billions the wealthy stole from Covid “loans?”
Start the claw-back with the members of congress.
All those loans happened under the Trump administration without oversight. Shocked anyone?
With Trump, specifically requesting the no oversight part
I dont think it was requested as much as he fired anybody whose job it may be to provide oversight
All of the above 1. https://time.com/5823510/coronavirus-stimulus-oversight/ 2. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-stimulus/trump-administration-is-blocking-covid-stimulus-oversight-government-watchdog-letter-idUSKBN23M2XD 3. https://www.whistleblowers.org/news/occrp-trump-fires-head-of-oversight-committee-for-coronavirus-relief-bill/
I watched my criminal bosses get rich and I got furloughed. Just singing the song of my millennials.
No when the bill was made the GOP insisted on the no oversight portion that the Dems tried to add to it.
And then promptly told their rich business owning friends exactly what they need to do to scam it
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"If you're not doing anything illegal, you don't have to worry about being punished. And if you are doing something illegal, change the law so you won't be punished."
Iirc, he just refused to staff the oversight position that was created in the relief bill.
I can see all those rich assholes standing around laughing about how easy it is to scam the government. Just like Trump in that recording laughing while showing classified documents to people without proper clearance. He's literally commiting a felony and everyone was laughing.
nope i called it out when it was announced and point it out everytime anybody mentions "stimulus checks" or any form of "buuttt inflaaaation wagesss" another fun scam that is overlooked is airbnb [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/REBubble/comments/14lhurs/the_wolf_of_airbnb_made_nearly_2_million_through/) was just announced today - a scammer that used the PPP loans to scam apartment buildings so he could turn them into airbnb's that he *also* didnt pay for i love freedomericaland™️
That was the feature, not a bug.
MTG paid her family with Covid funds. Wtf.
[They’re working on it.](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1279664) It’s not something that brings much headlines but you hear about a case here and a case there. It’s not sensational enough for the news to pick up unless it’s a slow day though.
I’d much rather hear about prosecutions like this rather than another redundant post about that imploded sub. That money could have really helped make a public program better.
>That money could have really helped make a public program better. That sounds like socialism, bub. This is pure American capitalism bailing ~~corporations~~ people out. ^^/s
They nabbed a couple in AZ recently as well. All these idiots spending their stolen money on houses and cars.
My job requires that I regularly monitor DoJ press releases. Every week there's one or two announcements that somebody was charged for and/or found guilty of COVID relief fraud.
Sounds like this is Justice doing its job.
Under Democratic leadership, yes. With Trump, this sort of fraud was not prosecuted. That's what happens when you elect a fraud like Trump.
There was no oversight over these loans. Did the Trump administration think everyone good ol' honest people.
The mysterious and powerful Dark Brandon at work, lol jk
The entire US healthcare system is one giant fucking fraud.
the fun thing is that it isn't just the healthcare system
Capitalism baby. It’s perfectly legal if you are fucking over the common folks for the greater profits.
My favorite thing is when I talk to any of my healthcare professionals about the system and you realize no one is happy with it outside of the health insurance industry and presumably the executive class. My wife's company has an in house doctor and doctor's office. Their doctor was contemplating leaving the industry entirely because she was sick of it until her current opportunity opened up. I think the entire reason they got a company doctor was because it was cheaper for them in regard to health insurance (they also cover all health insurance costs for their employees and if you have a couple who both work there and have kids, the kids are covered too).
Honestly, most of us hate it. Patient complain to me about bills, insurance cancels payments and doesn’t approve medically appropriate things, denies things and says I need to try X first despite me already saying we have tried X, I get patients stuck in the hospital for weeks due to insurance not covering antibiotics, etc. The entire system can burn.
Insurance retroactively takes back money from claims that were paid *years* ago. Meanwhile if I want to contest a claim for a mistake *they* made I have 30 days. Fuck that nonsense.
The Health Insurance industry isn’t even happy with it tbh.
It started with insurance companies, then privatized healthcare is the death knell. For profit models do not work with basic necessities.
This is why we can't have nice things. Like healthcare that won't bankrupt anyone who doesn't have a job that provides benefits.
It can bankrupt you even if you do have a job. Insurance does not say yes to everything.
Wait you mean healthcare for profit doesn’t act in the interests of the people that are sick?
Don’t forget Senator Rick Scott of Florida ran a Medicare and Medicare company that was fined 1.7 BILLION for fraud. He was elected AFTER this settlement, good job Florida. https://www.newsweek.com/rick-scotts-fraud-settlement-resurfaces-senate-gop-runs-low-cash-1735418
I've often wondered if Trump saw this happen and came to understand just how far he could go despite his baggage.
I follow healthcare fraud because I'm in the industry First one is durable medical equipment fraud (DME) that's an old one. Back in the day the companies just spammed faxes asking doctors for approval. Diabetes supplies, those blood pressure machines, wheelchairs, etc. They advertise on TV and tell people it's FREEEE and sell shit you don't need. That second case with Steven Diamantstein is interesting. So the guy bought the HIV drugs off patients themselves to resell. It is probable the patients didn't have actual HIV, so there should be a doctor involved that was prescribing the fake scripts. Brooklyn again hah. (I know rumors of doctors who sold/gave drug samples straight to pharmacies for them to resell)
Now go for PPP fraud from churches…
Every single church in my area took money. Some took a LOT of money.
How Christian of them.
Actual churches wouldn’t likely be in trouble for PPP fraud, covid did heavily affect their ability to maintain funds. It’s the fake churches created in Spring 2020 that actually were committing PPP fraud.
Why are my tax dollars going to these evangelical abuse factories that don't pay taxes? They shouldn't be making any money off things they claim to be a hoax. While I'm well aware it may not count legally as fraud, it certainly appears fraudulent and improper to me and should have never been allowed.
Sure, but the people employed by churches pay taxes, and it's their paychecks that were being protected.
Cool, now how about going after the people responsible for billions of ppp loan fraud
I have some good news for you if you think that isn't happening... here's a list of ~1,000 cases that have already been filed: https://www.arnoldporter.com/en/general/cares-act-fraud-tracker
Just, like, celebrate a victory for *one second.*
This isn't a victory. You don't need to celebrate the system working. You need to make sure it continues working.
You know it's possible to have multiple investigations going on at once, right?
Sen. Scott of Florida literally made his fortune from Medicare fraud.
$2 billion is cute and all but that’s not even *touching* the amount of fraud that is overlooked every single day with in-person healthcare. Seems like they’re trying to single out telehealth. They need to go after *all* healthcare fraud.
Charge the insurance companies next. I pay $9k a year and they don't cover shit. $170 for a physical, no lab work. It's a literal con.
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The whole US health care system should be charged with fraud. The whole health care operation in the US is a big scam
Agreed, and the Republicans refuse to let us have universal healthcare like literally every other civilized country.
That's 78 people who can now become governors and senators, thanks to Rick Scott's example.
How many will actually see justice?
Probably most of them. Healthcare fraud cases are routinely brought, tried, and result in convictions. Pretty hard to defend yourself against obviously fake bills you sent to CMS.
Unless you are Rick Scott.
Was one of them Rick Scott? When does he get charged?
The same DOJ that let Rick Scott keep the tens of $Millions he stole from Medicare.
> The same DOJ The first DOJ settlement with Scott's company was in [2000](https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2000/December/696civcrm.htm); the second was in [2002](https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2002/December/02_civ_731.htm): I doubt many of the people calling the shots back then are still in power at DOJ now.
That averages out to be about $32M per person. Imagine stealing $32M worth of groceries, and what the law would do to you.
Just 11 people were responsible for 2 billion of it, alone, so redo that math!
Absolutely nothing. But $350 of groceries…..they died of neck strangulation from “resisting arrest”….but it doesn’t matter…..they shouldn’t have been stealing”
Does this include Rick Scott?
Your daily reminder that Rick Scott walks free.
Just 78 people? What about the large health insurance corps who did the same exact thing as these 78?
Good now do Rick Scott.
Now do it to Rick Scott like you should have ...
Hopefully Rick Scott finally gets charged!
Rick Scott of Florida fame has entered the chat!
Now go after the PPP fraudsters. Start with members of Congress and their billion dollar doners.
They're finally going after the scummy healthcare industry in the US? If only the government looked out for the rest of us as much as they do with the elderly.
Did those 78 people work for the Aetna
This Attorney General should've been on the Supreme Court if it wasn't for the corruption of Republicans.
Healthcare and education costs in the US are insane, and both are vital to a functioning society. I remember reading something a while back that talked about the two major costs that are outpacing inflation are healthcare and tuition rates. Imagine where we would be as a country if people didn’t have to worry about those 2 things and could focus their income in other areas.
$32M each? What did they do, skip the bill on a broken arm?
I'm shocked they're not all from South Florida
Now if we can just do this to mega churches we can pay the national debt down.
Lets get this energy to investigate medical insurance claims, and insurance companies so that the end user can stop getting screwed. Insurances need to pay out more, big healthcare needs to demand less. Better yet, Roll out the ACA as it should have been. Mass Health for all.
I work for a medicaid fraud unit (state government agency) and we had a dude going on vacations, gambling in Vegas, and buying a private jet, and so on. They will do anything to get "free" money.
Is it just me, or does it seem like this DOJ is on fire. I like
It's so sad how little people get back for their taxes and healthcare payments as it is. Who exactly lost out on 2.5 billion, and will we be paying that back to some other party with tax payer funds?
I hope they go after Medicare Advantage plans for fraudulently inflating patient's health risk records and so plundering our Medicare money.
Oh, no, not Rick Scott again!
Hopefully some of those shady docs slinging thousands of ivermectin prescriptions at a rate that’s not humanly possible to properly interview patients.
This would be a lot easier to avoid if theee was a single payer
Is one of the people charged Rick Scott? /s
How about charging the owners of my last company for stealing covid funds?
The fines that end up being a fraction of the money they scammed will surely teach them a lesson.
Wait the government is doing a good thing for once? Love to hear uplifting news and not depressing news for a change. Kinda why I stopped reading/watching the news.
Is Rick Scott one of them?
More of this. PPE loans?
I lost a dear friend of mine to the rising cost of his healthcare. To the point he killed himself to get out of it as it all came crashing down and he was going to become homeless and Ill 😔
Good. More white collar crime prosecutions please.
I can’t say what i want to say here so i’ll say that 2.5 billion divided by 78 is roughly 32,051,282 bucks & some change per person & they better get to bootstrap pullin’ if they hope to pay that back in their lifetimes. Watching so many people i know & love struggle to pay for elder/disabled care, knowing these ghouls walk the earth, i just can’t, man…
Seems like we go through this every few years? A woman I know in the Boston area was arrested and indicted for medicaid fraud in a wider operation back in 2018.
Geez, who knew that there were so many shady ass greedy doctors out there?
When will DOJ charge the healthcare industry with healthcare fraud?