Letters to the Editor: Operation to halt Medicare fraud had some unfortunate side effects

To the editor: The figures presented by Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz and Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer Kim Brandt are impressive, but don’t show the full picture (“Medicare’s new approach to halting fraud is paying off,” July 9). In California, part of the administration’s tactic was to pause funding that affected all hospice providers — for months. For companies providing an actual service, the consequences were dire.

The hospice company that my elderly mother uses could no longer pay their employees. The nurse who regularly visited my mother lost his house, had to move in with his parents and finally had to find another job. The kicker is that, when payments finally resumed, Medicare paid interest on the funds they had withheld. So much for saving money.

Karen Ricks, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Oz and Brandt extol the success the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has had in reducing fraud. “One key to success has been to finally acknowledge the scale of the problem and adapt appropriately,” they write. They seem to be oblivious to the fact they are running a catch-and-release program in which their boss, President Trump, has granted clemency to some of the greatest fraudsters of the system.

Salomon Melgen was an eye doctor in Florida who was convicted of defrauding the government of $100 million. Trump commuted his 17-year prison sentence. Philip Esformes had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for a massive $1.3-billion Medicare fraud scheme. Trump commuted his sentence as well.

Good work, Oz and Brandt, but urge Trump to stop pardoning the Medicare and Medicaid fraudsters you catch.

Todd Collart, Ventura