[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 118 (Thursday, July 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H7264]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FRAUD IN MEDICARE

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, Medicare was established to help our 
seniors, not to make unscrupulous companies wealthy at their expense.
  Today I am talking about the fraud in Medicare. Listen to the items 
that ABC Home Health Care put on their Medicare tab: Maid service 
payments for condominiums; golf pro shop expenses; airplane and 
automobile expenses for personal trips; and lobbying expenses.
  They use promotional and marketing gimmicks such as gourmet popcorn, 
golf tees, earrings, cufflinks, combs, and sewing kits to recruit new 
members.
  This is not a club but a home health care service. We should all be 
concerned.
  Taxpayers are footing the bill for these luxury items.
  Money was no object because ABC Home Health Care put it on the 
Medicare tab. Medicare was billed to the tune of $14 million for just 1 
year.
  We cannot allow this to happen, this fraud to continue in the 
Medicare Program.

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