Scooter Store Files For Bankruptcy After Overbilling Medicare At Least $47 Million

[unrepentant progress]

Cross-posted from GD, where I suspect it'll sink like a rock (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022678357).

That got the attention of the federal government, and led to a raid by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The company’s CEO insists that The Scooter Store itself wasn’t accused of fraud. Just a few weeks later, the company furloughed all employees, then permanently laid off about 1,000.

An independent audit found that the company had overbilled Medicare and Medicaid somewhere between $46.8 million and $87.7 million. The company had agreed to pay back $19.5 million. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is one of the largest creditors listed in the company’s bankruptcy petition, which details about $50 million in debt.
http://consumerist.com/2013/04/15/scooter-store-files-for-bankruptcy-after-fbi-raid-and-medicare-fraud-allegations

The Scooter Store's tactics were loathsome, but there is another side to the story. The fact is that Medicare and Medicaid make these devices really hard to get, which is why a lot of people turned to companies like the Scooter Store. In fact, Medicare will only approve purchase of a scooter or powered wheelchair for use inside the home, and only if the patient's doctor attests that the patient is unable to get around at all insider their home. So if it's at all possible, no matter how much effort or time or pain is involved, for you to move around inside the home using a cane then no assistive device for you. As for going outside, well, you're disabled so what reason do you have for going outside? And of course, in the wake of the Scooter Store investigation, it's going to become even harder for people with mobility impairments to get help paying for scooters or powered wheelchairs. Overall Medicare is a fantastic program, but in many ways it is still a product of the mid-20th century culture that created it with a less than enlightened conception of disability. In the case of aids to people with disability it can often seem downright punitive.

[Dawson Leery]

1. We need some good news today.