OOPS

Medicare Bought Drugs for Dead People

In bureaucratic mix-up.

Due to a bizarre rule that allows payment for prescriptions filled up to 31 days after a patient’s death, Medicare has been paying for costly medications even after patients have died. The report from the Health and Human Services Department’s inspector general says the policy is against the program’s basic principles, and common sense. Medicare said in response it’s working on a fix. In 2012, the program paid for drugs for 158 beneficiaries with HIV after they were dead, costing the government $292,381. The officials don’t know why exactly they were filled after patients died, but they believe it may be for use on the black market.