Avoiding Medical Fraud Part-1

At least 3Billlion yearly are spent in medical fraud, hoaxes and false cures. You probably contribute to this windfall of medical fraud. When you buy worthless medicines/drugs, as a result of television and advertisements, take a massive amounts of the vitamin-of-the-month or send away for “cures” advertised in the back of a magazine, you are paying part of this bill. I should say, you are being hustled.

You can recognize a hustle or medical fraud. There are four questions to ask for you to be able to identify a medical fraud and a dishonest marketer. The questions are:

What is the Motive of the Marketer?

Make some rough estimates of the proposed service as a business. Is it a revolving door operation, where people walk in the door with their money and walk out without it? What is the average fee paid by the customer? How many patients are seen in an hour? The product of these two numbers represents the hourly income of the operation. If the gross amount exceeds $100 per professional employee, watch out! It is a likely candidate of a medical fraud.

Many patients have paid hundreds of dollars to have their arthritis “treated” with ordinary flu shots which should represent a trivial charge. Medicines maybe repackage and marked up and misrepresented. The hustler is doing it for money. Don’t be misled by a “loss leader” that is apparent bargain. Look at the total cost over the long term. Tomorrow, well examine the second question to ask to detect a medical fraud.