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Posted on 10/01/2026 10:18:40 AM PDT by DFG
NEW: RFK Jr. says Medicare spending on wound care patches exploded from $200 million in 2019 to $14 billion last year: "It's all stolen."
Bad actors billed Medicare billions by slapping the most expensive skin grafts on elderly and dying patients who didn't need them.
"The doctors who prescribed them would get 6% of the sales cost. And so, they were incentivized to prescribe more expensive products. In Europe, they spend 35 cents a cubic inch. We were spending $135, and that went up to $2,000 a cubic inch."
"So 2019, we were paying $200 million. Last year we spent 14 billion. All stolen. It's all stolen. And we were on track to spend 23 billion this year."
"We put an end to it, and we now have driven that cost down to somewhere around a billion dollars."
In one Arizona case, the owners of two wound care companies pleaded guilty to more than $1.2 billion in fraudulent claims. Medicare paid over $1 million per patient for grafts slapped on elderly patients who didn't need them, many of them dying in hospice.
In June, DOJ charged 11 more defendants over more than $2 billion in allograft claims, including a company accused of issuing sham invoices to inflate what Medicare paid.
It feels like every week I learn a new way people were ripping off taxpayers for billions.
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Hmmmmm. 17x. Curious.
Ignore that last comment. Tnx.
One would think that when the government is providing trillions in funding they might have quality controls to prevent fraud.
I want to know if this is stopped now and that the thieves and scammers and the kickback doctors are getting arrested. Any of this happening?
They classified fingernail trimming as "surgical debridement."
Those committing the fraud contribute to, and vote for the Dims. What are the Dims to do but cover up or obstruct investigation into the fraud.
Its likely they are able to run down the criminals with the help of AI.
This also means that in the future, every time a line item in the federal budget balloons upward —it will set off fraud monitors.
So a lot of fraud is going out of the federal budget.
“It feels like every week I learn a new way people were ripping off taxpayers for billions.”
* Like 40+Trillion T- wh*** in exchange for foreign nationals taking over our Infrastructures. Steel - India, Energy - South Korea. They’re coming in this time, suite and tie. And many are falling for it.
https://youtu.be/TA_7pLwIoNU?is=7ongnq9nCnZcNSdt
FR THREAD——Nine Ways Congress Can Combat Fraud in the Federal Government
POSTED——Tax-paid government agents and clerks who knowingly or willfully sign off on fraudulent claims can be criminally prosecuted and held civilly liable. Government employment does not grant immunity from committing fraud or conspiring to defraud the public trust.
When public officials actively participate in a fraudulent scheme, they face severe legal consequences under several federal and state statutes. Key Legal Grounds for Prosecution:
• Federal False Statements (18 U.S.C. § 1001): It is a felony for any individual—including a government employee—to knowingly and willfully falsify, conceal, or cover up a material fact, or sign a document knowing it contains fraudulent statements. This carries a penalty of up to 5 to 8 years in prison.
• Conspiracy to Defraud the Government (18 U.S.C. § 371): If a government clerk works in tandem with an outside contractor or claimant to push through false bills, they can be charged with criminal conspiracy.
• Honest Services Fraud & Bribery: If an agent signs off on fraudulent claims in exchange for kickbacks, cash, or favors, they can be prosecuted for federal bribery or honest services fraud, which carries up to 20 years in prison.
• The Criminal False Claims Act (18 U.S.C. § 287): Approving or presenting claims against the government knowing they are false triggers strict criminal penalties, including prison time and heavy individual fines.
Can They Claim Immunity?
Government workers often have certain legal immunities (such as qualified immunity) for mistakes made while performing their official duties in good faith. However, courts have repeatedly ruled that immunity does not shield officials from intentional fraud. If an agent acts with “scienter”—meaning they had actual knowledge, or acted with reckless disregard for the truth—their immunity is stripped away.
Civil Liability and Whistleblowers
Beyond going to prison, corrupt officials can be sued under the civil False Claims Act (FCA). Under the FCA’s qui tam provisions, independent whistleblowers (including other honest government coworkers) can file lawsuits against the individuals defrauding the system. A successful suit can force the guilty parties to pay treble damages (three times the stolen amount) plus massive per-claim financial penalties.
Patriots, Call Congress
US Capitol switchboard
(202) 224-3121.
Call the White House
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
TTY/TTD Comments: 202-456-6213
Send a letter to the White House
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Washington, DC 20500
I did wound care, and it was not easy to get insurance to pay for grafts. They were expensive. In short, a lot of people did not get grafts, instead like welfare fraud, the people needing the help never got it.
In 2025, a leading seller skin substitutes called Extremity Care hired one of Mr. Trump’s top fund-raisers, Brian Ballard, as a lobbyist and donated $2 million to a super PAC that supported the Trump election campaign.
The New York Times (boo! hiss!) reported on this in April of last year. I remembered it because it seemed like an insane waste that DOGE would address.
On December 24, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that its Medicare Administrative Contractors would withdraw finalized Local Coverage Determinations for skin substitute grafts/cellular and tissue-based products for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers. The LCDs had been scheduled to take effect January 1, 2026.
After he took office, President Trump posted on social media, criticizing Biden and opposing the plan to curb Medicare’s coverage of the bandages.
“Crooked Joe rammed through a policy that would create more suffering and death for diabetic patients on Medicare.”
Overdue, but I’m glad it’s finally happening.
How does someone qualified to hold the job with HHS, not notice that outrageous increase?
No this is nowhere near stopped! My wife was in a rehab/long term care facility in East Tennessee last year and recently passed away. We both worked in the medical field our whole lives. There was a nursing assistant who evidently took some short course in wound care and he came into her room every other day and put new bandages on her heels for bedsores each time he came. I knew what they were doing. Just running up her bill. But I had enough other stuff to deal with on a daily basis to bother with the fraud that was going on.
“It feels like every week I learn a new way people were ripping off taxpayers for billions.”
I’m just about worn out. Not much to say.
I am sure their are laws and policies in place for just that.
But ya know, they fired what, 350,000 federal workers? there is just no one left to enforce it.
(that’s a joke but I bet the left tries it)
Maybe we’re paying to much in taxes and they don’t care about keeping track. If they were watching every penny like was their last, ya know like a majority of Americans.
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