The administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Mehmet Oz, known as Dr. Oz, stated this Saturday that he believes the Cuban government could be involved in a massive healthcare fraud in South Florida, and announced that there will be raids against those responsible.
Oz made the statements in an interview with Fox News while he was physically in South Florida, as part of a federal offensive that he has been leading for months against fraud in public health programs.
"I happen to be in South Florida right now. There are twice as many durable medical equipment suppliers as there are McDonald's restaurants here. And it's not because Bobby Kennedy is shutting down McDonald's. There is rampant fraud here, and we believe the Cuban government could be involved in this!"
This is not the first time that Dr. Oz has targeted the Cuban community in this context. Previously, the official to federal health programs.
Among the measures taken by the administration is a six-month national moratorium on the approval of new durable medical equipment providers, precisely the sector where a significant portion of the fraud detected in South Florida is concentrated.
The background of these types of schemes is extensive. Previous investigations had already documented a network of 85 fake medical equipment companies linked to Cuban exiles who defrauded Medicare before fleeing the United States.
In more recent cases, Ariel Núñez Finalet was sentenced to three years in prison in Miami for his involvement in one of these fraud schemes against Medicare.
According to Dr. Oz himself, the magnitude of the problem is enormous at the national level: he estimates that the total Medicaid fraud nationwide amounts to $100 billion, making this federal initiative one of the most ambitious in recent years.
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