[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 28, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2097]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E2097]]
                               MAIL FRAUD

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                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 28, 1997

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, too bad Dante isn't still alive. He would 
surely write a special place in Hell for the vultures who prey on 
seniors with false and alarmist mailings, demanding money to save the 
seniors from some phony threat.
  A more immediate punishment would be fines and imprisonment for 
postal fraud by the U.S. Postal Service.
  Following is a letter I have sent to the U.S. Postal inspectors 
regarding the recent mailings by United Seniors Association and the 
Seniors Coalition and their misrepresentation of the Kyl amendment 
issue.

                                    U.S. Postal Service Inspection


                                      Service, Fraud Division,

                               Washington, DC. October 27, 1997.  
       Dear Sirs: Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1341 which reads, in part 
     ``Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme 
     or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by 
     means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or 
     promises . . . for the purpose of executing such scheme or 
     artifice . . . places in any post office . . . any matter or 
     thing whatever to be sent or delivered by the Postal Service 
     . . . shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more 
     than five years, or both''
       I wish to report a postal fraud by United Seniors 
     Association, 3900 Jermantown Road, Suite 450, Fairfax, VA 
     22030 and urge your immediate action to impose appropriate 
     penalties.
       Enclosed are two mailings from the United Seniors 
     Association (USA) urgently asking for money on the basis of 
     false pretenses and representations. The USA letter contains 
     innumerable inaccuracies and errors of fact. It is so 
     blatantly wrong that it cannot be a simple act of stupidity, 
     but is a calculated scheme to frighten Medicare beneficiaries 
     out of money. In particular, in the letter of September 22, 
     1997, the paragraph on the first page which reads ``Here's 
     what this appalling new law does: if you are a Medicare 
     patient and you want to personally pay for a treatment which 
     Medicare does not want to cover--it will be nearly impossible 
     to do so. . . .''
       This statement, repeated in numerous ways throughout the 
     mailings, is false.
       Medicare beneficiaries have always been able to contract 
     privately with doctors for services which Medicare does not 
     cover. Nothing in any law has changed that right. Under 
     certain conditions, the new law actually extends that 
     ``right'' to services which Medicare does cover--a new right 
     to be billed more than the Medicare payment rate by 
     physicians, which did not exist before. See enclosed 
     memoranda.
       I also urge you to investigate for fraud the enclosed 
     recent Seniors Coalition mailing (11166 Main Street, Suite 
     302, Fairfax, VA 22030). This mailing calls for ``an 
     emergency contribution'' to help fund a lawsuit on the 
     private contracting issue. The cover letter is rather 
     extraordinary in that it asks people to send money to help 
     fight something for which the writer has ``no time to 
     explain.'' The statements in the letter over Mary Martin's 
     signature is false: ``your health care will be rationed in a 
     Clinton HMO.'' The enclosed news articles contain numerous 
     errors and misrepresentations. I believe that this mailing 
     may also be a mail fraud because it uses false statements in 
     the cover letter and inaccurate or incomplete statements in 
     the news articles to scare people into sending money to 
     support plans for a lawsuit. I know of no such lawsuit or any 
     grounds for it, and I ask your investigators to determine 
     whether there is in fact such a planned use of the money 
     bilked from the public.
       Congressional offices report receiving numerous letters and 
     calls expressing concern and confusion as a result of these 
     two mailings and therefore I assume that a number of Medicare 
     beneficiaries have been defrauded out of some money as a 
     result of these alarmist misrepresentations.
       Before additional harm is done to Medicare beneficiaries, I 
     urge an immediate investigation and fines and/or the return 
     of money to the beneficiaries.
       The issue of private contracting and Medicare payment rates 
     are complex and worthy of a rational debate. These two 
     mailings are false, alarmist, and destructive to public 
     debate while frightening beneficiaries out of money ``by 
     means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, 
     promises'' etc.
       Thank you for your review of these mailings.
           Sincerely,
                                                       Pete Stark.

     

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