Tax-Evading Medicaid Providers
The Associated Press reported this morning that a Senate panel is looking to collect unpaid taxes from more than 30,000 Medicaid providers who receive federal payments for their services despite owing at least $1 billion in back taxes.
AP specifically mentioned a nursing home provider in the report:
"The GAO highlighted several egregious cases, including a Medicaid provider who had been convicted for failing to pay taxes owed by several nursing homes. While the nursing homes owed $14 million in unpaid taxes, the report said, its owner had purchased a 10,000-square foot home now valued at more than $2 million - and spent tens of thousands of dollars furnishing it with crystal chandeliers, a 132-piece set of Haviland Bavarian porcelain china and oriental rugs."
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said he plans to press the IRS and CMS officials to find a way to recoup that money. But CMS spokesman Jeff Nelligan told the Associated Press that the CMS is not in a position to review provider tax records. CMS acting administrator Kerry Weems added that the "implication is that there is some direct correlation between owing taxes and being a Medicaid provider."
Read the story here and tell us what you think. Should Medicaid payments be affected by individual tax status? Should CMS monitor personal taxes? And if they did, how do you think it would affect the industry?