Well, maybe not an actual 4.9 million dollars before Christmas but the promise of that amount soon…. Which I suppose is nice Christmas present too – not the kind to carry back for an exchange.
Tami, of Woodstock, Georgia, is the whistle blower that will get the 4.9 million as a reward for turning in Saint Joseph Hospital in Atlanta for jilting the Medicare system out of millions of dollars. When, she as an employee of the hospital, noticed the fraud and complained, they told her not to complain. She did. Good for her!
Saint Joseph Hospital has agreed to pay out as a settlement $26 million.
I think milking the system should carry a harsher penalty and even jail time for those who engineered the fraud because not only are they robbing the present system but are also causing the system to run dry of funds on down the road.
However, I am not sure rewarding whistle blowers such huge amounts is a good idea either. That 4.9 million will also milk the system.
If this continues a new breed of greedy whistle blowers may develop. And people will blow the whistle not because they feel it is their civic duty but because of greed.
The greedy blowing the whistle on the greedy? My my.
Sad commentary that the only way to get folks to hold each other accountable is to play on their greed.
ReplyDelete{sigh} So are the Days of Our - well, someone's - Lives.
Merry Xmas to you and yours, Ed!!!
Michael,
ReplyDeleteAnd Merry Christmas to you! I have enjoyed our blogging relationship!
It seems that rewards such as this would entice people to look for things to blow the whistle on! How unfair if your employer is honest and doesn't cheat the government.
ReplyDeleteHow is one to ever get ahead?
I agree that this is not a good thing.
Janie,
ReplyDeleteIt does seem that a big reward would distort things - which ever is the most greedier wins.
However, that didn't work with the 25 mil for Bin Laden.
I suppose the only thing that beats 25 mil is a beheading.
Whistle blowers need little more thqn a pat on the back and a vacation, Eddie. Otherwise, we will breed a whole nation of them.
ReplyDelete(Merry Christmas!)
Judy,
ReplyDeleteMaybe they need an incentive, but don't give them the whole farm.