{"id":10666,"date":"2016-09-28T13:51:27","date_gmt":"2012-09-28T13:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.viamedic.com\/blog\/?p=552"},"modified":"2012-09-28T13:51:27","modified_gmt":"2012-09-28T13:51:27","slug":"medicare-paying-36-million-a-year-in-penis-pumps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edrugstore.com\/blog\/current-health-news\/medicare-paying-36-million-a-year-in-penis-pumps\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicare Paying 36 Million a Year in Penis Pumps"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
It’s shocking how much we’re spending on penis pumps through Medicare.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Medicare spending on penis pumps has skyrocketed over 500 percent. In 2000, we spent $7.2 million — last year, $36 million! <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s worse is that each of these \u201cmale vacuum erection systems<\/a>\u201d costs about $338 dollars on average. So our hard-earned tax money is only buying about 98,000 of devices. The systems work by placing a tube over the penis, and a pump is used to remove air from the tube. The vacuum that is created draws blood into the penis, a tension ring is used to sustain the erection, and then the tube is removed.<\/p>\n

Although it might sound ridiculous, the pumps were found to be effective during clinical trials in the 1980\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Political Changes in Viagra Coverage<\/strong>
\nThe penis pumps gained in popularity after 2007, when Medicare officials ruled that Viagra and other \u201clifestyle drugs\u201d weren\u2019t medically necessary and stopped covering them.<\/p>\n

Ever since then, the aging baby-boomer generation has been looking for alternatives, and pumps have been a natural choice. There has been some controversy, however, because the price of Medicare reimbursement far exceeds the usual price of these pumps at stores, which is usually under $100.<\/p>\n

Fraud Problems to Boot<\/strong>
\nOn top of the ridiculously high prices for these products, there\u2019s also the added fact that penis pump sales have become a hotspot for fraud activity in the Medicare industry.<\/p>\n

In one of the most recent fraud cases, an Illinois man named Gary Winner<\/a> who ran \u201cPlanned Eldercare\u201d was sentenced to more than three years in prison for shipping penis pumps to diabetes patients who did not order them. He then billed Medicare $284 for each device, even though he\u2019d bought them for $26 a pop from a sex shop. Over the course of 4 years, he cost the insurance plan over $2.2 million dollars.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fraud is burdening our healthcare system.<\/figcaption><\/figure> But Winner\u2019s case isn\u2019t the only example. Post-T-Vac, one of the leading supposedly reputable penis pump manufacturers, has been sent a request to refund the government over $4.2 million. The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services filed a report saying that Post-T-Vac \u201cfailed to comply with Medicare document requirements for half of the sampled claims.\u201d Post-T-Vac issued a reply to the Washington Times saying they disagreed with the report.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the penis pump issues are only representative of larger problems that need to be addressed with Medicare. A recent fraud bust in May uncovered scams that were costing Medicare $452 million. The fraud operation was the largest in Medicare history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Medicare spending on penis pumps has skyrocketed over 500 percent. In 2000, we spent $7.2 million — last year, $36 million! What\u2019s worse is that each of these \u201cmale vacuum erection systems\u201d costs about $338 dollars on average. So our hard-earned tax money is only buying about 98,000 of devices. The systems work by placing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_autoblog_aioseo_focus_keyphrase":"","_autoblog_aioseo_title":"","_autoblog_aioseo_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-health-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t