In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued the report Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic as an educational guide for emergency preparedness. Now it appears the zombies are here. Medicare beneficiaries are using their Medicare benefits from beyond the grave.
The OIG has issued a report indicating that 158 deceased Medicare beneficiaries filled 348 prescriptions after their deaths aggregately worth nearly $300,000 in 2012 . Is it supernatural?
A more likely explanation is that Medicare is being defrauded by those who are using deceased Medicare beneficiary information to fill prescription drug orders for resale.
This is not the first scheme to exploit the high resale value of medication fraudulently acquired with government funds. In July of 2012, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced charges against 48 defendants for a massive fraud scheme trafficking hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of prescription drugs that had been originally dispensed to Medicaid beneficiaries in the New York City area. According to the original statement, Medicaid lost more than $500 million in reimbursements into a national underground, “secondary” market.
Just in case it is zombies though, the OIG’s report clarifies the government’s relevant coverage policy: “Drugs dispensed after death cannot be used for medically indicated purposes and therefore are not covered by Part D.”
Good policy.
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