WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Eager to bolster the healthcare system throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. federal government last month sped $30 billion in stimulus payments to most healthcare providers that billed Medicare in 2015.
FILE IMAGE: Oklahoma National Guardsmen wait to sanitize a residents space during a decontamination mission at a longterm care facility, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in McAlester, Oklahoma, U.S. April 22,2020 REUTERS/Nick Oxford
That speed resulted in taxpayers’ cash flowing to some companies and individuals dealing with civil or criminal fraud examinations, according to defense attorney and others representing more than a dozen companies and people dealing with such queries.
The disclosures about such payments have actually triggered outrage among some congressional Democrats, who state they highlight the problems with how stimulus funds have actually been distributed.
” I have a massive quantity of frustration with the way the Trump administration is dispersing these dollars, and examples like these amplify the effects of the White House’s efforts to restrict openness and stonewall oversight,” Senator Ron Wyden, ranking member of the Senate Financing Committee, told Reuters.
Henry Connelly, a representative for House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, added: “It is worrying to see the Trump administration providing precious taxpayer dollars to unscrupulous entities while a lot of medical facilities and health care workers on the frontlines of the fight against coronavirus are desperate for resources.”
The Department of Health and Human Being Solutions, which sent out the payments, told Reuters it transferred funds to all medical pro