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Medicaid: Dentists Can Dispense Toys, Not Cash
By
Sabrina Jaszi
Published Mar 31, 2010
Modified Mar 31, 2010
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By
Sabrina Jaszi
Published Mar 31, 2010
Modified Mar 31, 2010
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For two days now the Post has reported on street hawkers who lure Meidcaid recipients to dental clinics, offering cash payments to don the bib—today it turned its focus to the allegedly fraudulent doctors. Billing Medicaid $29 for oral exams, $58 for teeth X-rays, $58 for cleanings and $14 for fluoride treatments, dentists pay the patients around $15-20 per visit, and usually give the shills $10 per person they bring in.
According to a spokeswoman for the government program, cash payments to patients are absolutely not okay, though gifts "worth up to $10" (stick-on earrings or wind-up chompy teeth) are allowed. Though the hawkers advertise blatantly on Harlem street corners, yelling things like "Dentist, dentist, dentist! Get paid to go to the dentist!," it calls the scamming operation "covert" and says investigators "still don't know the extent of the fraud."
Tagged
dental clinic
dentist
fraud
harlem bronx
health insurance
low income
medicaid
medicaid fraud
scam
Sabrina Jaszi
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