Planned Parenthood continues to find itself in the midst of controversy. Karen Reynolds, a former employee at one of the organization’s Lufkin, Texas, clinics, has blown the whistle on an alleged multi-million-dollar billing scheme.
Reynolds, who worked as a health center assistant for the clinic from 1999 until 2009, claims that she was instructed to help the organization bring in optimal revenue by falsifying records. In the end, this purportedly enabled the organization to extract monies from Medicaid and the Women’s Health Program for services that were never granted.
According to Reynolds, this was the procedure that staff followed in all 12 Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast clinics in both Texas and Louisiana. The Lufkin News reports:
The suit alleges that, in addition to falsifying patient records, billing the government for unwarranted services and services not covered by Medicaid, Planned Parenthood tacked on services patient did not receive.
An example given in the suit is Medicaid being billed for birth control counseling. The suit states almost all Women’s Health Program and Medicaid patients were handed a bag of at least two birth control devices despite the fact the items were not needed or requested by the patient.
After giving these bags out, the lawsuit alleges that the condoms and vaginal film present within the packages were billed to the government for a cost of $57.85. This action was apparently purposeful, as Reynolds claims that employees were taken through “PowerPoint” sessions on how they could most efficiently defraud taxpayers
Anybody can say anything. We’ll wait for the facts.
There was a previous PP whistle blower.
California:
P. Victor Gonzalez, the former Chief Financial Officer for Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles saw millions in fraudulent overbilling to state and federal governments and was subsequently fired when he blew the whistle.
Gonzalez says his own internal audit estimates that Planned Parenthood overcharged California taxpayers for purchasing birth control by at least $180 million.
He also found $5.2 million in overbilling at one Planned Parenthood affiliate in San Diego alone and he says Planned Parenthood officials intervened to prevent internal audits.
While other public health facilities and private facilities charged the state between $8 and $9 for a cycle of birth control pills, Planned Parenthood charged almost $12. The Planned Parenthood charge to the California government was several times more than it paid for the drugs originally.
Planned Parenthood Los Angeles paid $225,695.65 for Ortho Tri-Cyclen birth control pills but billed the state government more than $918,000.
And another in New Jersey:
The over billing problems also extend to Planned Parenthood centers in New Jersey.
The U.S. Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services uncovered a consistent problem with New Jersey-based family planning clinics run by the Planned Parenthood abortion business. They were found to be improperly billing Medicaid for services that did not qualify as family planning.
New Jersey improperly received federal reimbursement at the enhanced 90% rate for 160,955 prescription drug claims that were billed as family planning, but did not qualify as family planning services. A letter from the Inspector General to New Jersey officials recommended that New Jersey repay $2,219,746 to the federal government.
The state eventually returned $2.9 million to the federal government.
AND IOWA:
“Planned Parenthood is gouging insurance companies twice the price of their cash abortions. That’s how they can afford to keep their smaller clinics running. And if taxpayers are forced to fund these abortions, there’s no telling how much they will charge, because government funding is a blank check,” Operation Rescue head, Troy Newman added.
@Liberal1 (objectivity): Wait, wait! When it is aliberal issue, we “wait for the facts!” The left was very quick to jump on Rubio and other conseratives. Typical hypocracy.
More entitlements in a system of crumbling entitlements
Planned Parenthood will survive without harm.
They are progressive, you see.
They cull the rejects from our population.
The dream of Margaret Sanger lives on. Sterilize and abort.
That will produce the perfect Aryan.
Oops. That was yesterday.
I mean the perfect loyal Socialist Utopian.
Gotta watch that recidivist language.
What does a whistle-blower get paid ? Is it part of the settlement or just media recognition?