Planned Parenthood's Medicaid Fraud Problem

While Planned Parenthood apologists constantly try to present the abortion business as a benefit to the community, PP is under investigation in several areas for Medicaid fraud.  Two years ago Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast director Peter Durkin retired under interesting circumstances, and the El Paso facilities were forced to close back in 2009- also due to...Medicaid fraud.  Now Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast has agreed to pay $1.4 million in the hopes that the latest investigation will go quietly away before abortion champion Wendy Davis launches a bid for governor.  

Good luck with that.

Here's the content of a release from the Texas Alliance for Life:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:July 25, 2013
AUSTIN, TX -- Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast agreed Wednesday to pay $1.4 million for fraudulently overbilling the taxpayer-funded Medicaid program. The Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued a statement explaining that an investigation revealed Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast billed the Texas Medicaid program for services and products that were not medically necessary, never actually rendered, and not covered by the Medicaid program. Investigators also revealed that Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast falsified information on patient records in order to obtain fraudulent reimbursements from the Medicaid program.

This case is believed to have been introduced in federal court by a former Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast employee Karen Reynolds in 2011. According to her complaint Reynolds learned that her employer knowingly engaged in continued violations of federal and state law by implementing policies designed to fraudulently maximize reimbursements from government health care programs such as the Texas Medicaid program.

Another case pending against Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast was first filed by plaintiff Abby Johnson in December, 2011. Johnson managed the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast abortion facility in Bryan, Texas. According to Johnson's complaint, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast filed 87,075 or more false, fraudulent and/or ineligible claims from January 1, 2007, to at least October 6, 2009. According to these allegations, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast could be liable for treble damages close to $600 million.

Johnson publicly referred to the $1.4 million settlement as "simply a slap on the wrist." When asked if she intended to settle Johnson stated, "I have absolutely no intention of settling with my former affiliate. I don't want to settle. I want them to be held accountable."

Texas Medicaid rules permit the Office of Inspector General to exclude entities engaging in Medicaid fraud from being providers. It is not known whether this will be pursued in the case of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.

Who Really Cares About Women's Health?

In an astounding misrepresentation of events, many news outlets have been reporting that Texas Republicans and Governor Rick Perry are canceling the Women's Health Program (WHP). The program, a Medicaid initiative to provide preventative health services to low-income women, is in fact slated to be canceled. However, it is President Obama who is trying to kill the program, and largely to make a political point.

The President's desire to end the program is due to new rules passed by the Texas Legislature in 2011. Texas now prohibits any WHP funds from going to entities that “perform or promote elective abortion,” a ruling that effectively excludes abortion-oriented Planned Parenthood. Critics of the new rules claim Planned Parenthood is essential to providing 'health-care' to low-income women, but the facts tell another story.

To begin, there are some 2,500 qualified providers in the WHP operating more than 4,600 locations. But there are only 44 Planned Parenthood sites, representing less than 2% of the clinics. According to a recent map published by the Texas Tribune, the Planned Parenthood clinics are concentrated in a few urban areas and surrounded by other WHP providers. 

But even if Planned Parenthood had more participating clinics, it appears they do not provide the kind of services most Americans associate with health care. According to public records, no Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas maintains equipment or licensing for mammogram machines. Furthermore, if a patient needs a doctor for anything other than abortion, she must be sent to another WHP clinic, since Planned Parenthood 'doctors' only perform abortions. Texas legislators wisely chose to cut out the middle man and send patients directly to comprehensive clinics.

Another troubling aspect of Planned Parenthood's participation in WHP is the organization's apparent disregard for the law. In 2009, Planned Parenthood San Antonio was fined more than $100,000 for operating four illegal abortion facilities without a license, and had to return hundreds of thousands of WHP funds. In the same year, Planned Parenthood of El Paso was found to have engaged in Medicaid fraud, and closed abruptly.

And the allegations keep coming. Last year former Planned Parenthood employee Karen Reynolds filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice alleging that the organization systematically falsified medical charts for abortion clients to make it appear as if these clients came in for other services. Included in Reynold's complaint are memos instructing employees to falsify records to obtain Medicaid reimbursements. And just last week the Washington Times reported that former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Planned Parenthood clinics in Southeast Texas of submitting more than $6 million in fraudulent Medicaid claims.

In addition to legal and ethical problems (Planned Parenthood is also under investigation for sex trafficking of minor girls and failure to report abuse,) the abortion business doesn't provide much value to the taxpayer. According to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, Planned Parenthood's cost per client is 43% higher than most other WHP providers.

Despite multiple issues surrounding Planned Parenthood's participation in the Women's Health Program, President Obama prefers to cancel the entire service rather than provide comprehensive health-care for low-income women. Furthermore, Planned Parenthood and the White House are attempting to blame Governor Perry for the demise of WHP. However, the Governor announced last week that Texas would replace the funds Obama canceled and will continue the program. It seems that while the President prefers to make political points about abortion, it is Texas and Governor Perry who are looking out for women's health.

Deconstructing the Planned Parenthood Myth

At a recent Houston gala, numerous well-known Texans gathered to pay tribute to Peter J. Durkin, retiring CEO of Planned Parenthood-Gulf Coast. The City of Houston declared a “Peter J. Durkin Day,” and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee called Durkin a “true American Hero.” What was not mentioned is that Durkin's Planned Parenthood is in very deep trouble.

For starters, PPGC and Peter Durkin himself are under investigation for massive Medicaid fraud. Former employee Karen Reynolds has filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice alleging that the organization systematically falsified medical charts for abortion clients to make it appear as if these clients came in for other services. Included in the complaint are memos instructing employees on how to falsify records in order to obtain Medicaid reimbursements.

But this allegation is only the latest in a series of revelations that are shattering the mythology surrounding Planned Parenthood. In addition to Medicaid fraud, the organization is also under investigation for enabling sex trafficking of girls as young as 14. Although Americans have seen the organization as a “friend to women,” they are slowly discovering the ugly truth.

Originally founded as a birth control clinic, Planned Parenthood has been portrayed as an advocate for women's health. The organization proudly touts founder Margaret Sanger's work to legalize birth control, but carefully sidesteps Sanger's documented speaking engagements with the Ku Klux Klan and her many articles promoting eugenics. Her writings indicate that Sanger was an angry and resentful woman who loathed large families and the “human weeds” of the “lesser races.” Sanger would be pleased to know that about half of all African American pregnancies now end in abortion.

Marketing the organization as a 'healthcare' provider has been highly successful; corporations and charities have funneled billions of dollars into Planned Parenthood coffers. In addition to massive taxpayer-funded subsidies from all levels of government, groups such as the Susan G. Komen Foundation, United Way, and the March of Dimes have donated millions to Planned Parenthood for 'healthcare,' often under the guise of fighting breast cancer. Never mind that this 'non-profit' reports anywhere from $62 million to $114 million in annual profits.

While Planned Parenthood claims most services are non-abortion health care, former PPGC Employee of the Year Abby Johnson, has described how the organization manipulates reporting data to mislead donors. If a client receives a prescription for birth control pills, PP reports 12 'healthcare' services, one for each month of the year. Abortion services, even those requiring multiple visits, are counted as only one 'service.' Planned Parenthood's health care statistics are largely the result of accounting gimmicks.

Furthermore, despite receiving millions for breast cancer prevention, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services, not a single Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas even has equipment or licensing for mammograms. And as for the highly touted doctor-patient relationship, the only occasion in which doctors have any contact with patients at PP clinics is during an abortion procedure. If a client needs a medical doctor for anything else, she is then referred to a real women's health care clinic.

None of this, not even the alleged complicity in sexually exploiting minor girls, should come as any surprise. For both individuals and organizations, foundations matter. Furthermore, one cannot compartmentalize just one 'unethical act' without corrupting the whole. Despite the 'compassionate' arguments for abortion, the bottom line is that a human being is killed in the process, and all the pseudo-ethical and intellectual contortions in the world cannot make it otherwise. The myth is shattered; these are not our 'friends.' Planned Parenthood is and always has been a wolf in sheep's clothing, and it is time to bring Margaret Sanger's twisted legacy to an end.

Note:  This is a column I wrote for the Hill Country News.  One reader has suggested that I've never been inside a Planned Parenthood Clinic and so I don't have any credibility.  Well, I have been inside a Planned Parenthood clinic- as a patient.  It was a soul-less place I won't forget. 

Another aspect I did not mention in my previous column is that Planned Parenthood is not concerned with whether or not patients are being coerced or forced into an abortion. 

From Dr. Allen Unruh:  "

Unruh, who studied abortion for a state task force in 2005, said that Planned Parenthood maintains willful ignorance about the majority of women who have abortions against their will.
The threats often come from a boyfriend, husband, parent or other party.
“The task force revealed it was 65%,” Unruh told CNA in a May 31 interview. “Planned Parenthood admitted under oath that they don’t have anybody who has any training, of any kind, in counseling to determine when a woman’s being coerced.”

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/planned-parenthood-sues-south-dakota/#ixzz1dOpy0NUl