Inhaler drug: South Florida Medicare fraud cost taxpayers nearly $30 million, investigators say

The Sun Sentinel reports:

A scam tricked Medicare into paying for nearly 10 times more units of an inhaler drug than were available in South Florida, costing taxpayers millions, according to a federal investigation released Wednesday.

The scams over an 18-month period are the latest to be pulled off in Miami and its surrounding communities, which are the national epicenter for Medicare fraud.

According to investigators, Medicare paid for 7 million units of the drug arformoterol, even though the manufacturer and the three largest wholesalers sold only 750,000 units in the area in 2008 and the first half of 2009.

No word yet from advocates of "single payer" health care.