Medicare Fraud Culprit Going to Jail

Sometimes there is justice:

A Florida healthcare executive was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for orchestrating what prosecutors described as a massive $1 billion Medicare fraud scheme.

U.S. District Judge Robert Scola imposed the sentence on Philip Esformes, 50, in one of the biggest such cases in U.S. history.

Trial testimony showed the wealthy Miami Beach businessman operated a network of nursing homes and assisted living facilities in South Florida that jurors found used kickbacks and bribes to gain business.

‘People who needed care, people who wanted to get better, they had no shot,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Allan Medina. “The nature of the fraud, the conspiracy, the money-laundering scheme, was atrocious.”

Esformes was convicted by a jury in April of 20 charges including money laundering, receiving healthcare kickbacks, bribery conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors are also seeking forfeiture of $38.5 million in assets.

How many more Philip Esformes are there out there? I bet a lot. Why is that you never see the insurers, like Anthem or UnitedHealthcare, getting ripped off by these people? Why is it just the government?

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