Your Health ; In the News
74.7 Percentage of state lawmakers who have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
; What an Outrage
Podiatrist’s $1 Million Medicare Swindle
There’s no substitute for Grandma, but a new placement agency comes close. Rent-a-Grandma screens women age 50 and older as caregivers
for children and older adults. ; Launched a year ago, the Los Angeles-based
employment service is expanding nationwide. ; “A lot of our ‘grandmas’
are college-educated, and some of them have worked for school districts,”
says Todd Pliss, 46, Rent-a-Grandma founder and president. Many lost jobs
in the recession. ; Having grandkids isn’t required. Assignments for work-
ers, who average $14 to $18 hourly around Los Angeles, may include house-
keeping and cooking. Grandmas can be hired as live-ins or work as needed.
; Linda Terry, 63, of Santa Ana, Calif., a grandmother of 10, recently tended
to two children, ages 7 and 10, while their nanny was on vacation. She has
also cared for an 88-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s and diabetes. ; “To see
some of the results of your work is very rewarding,” says Terry. —Susan Kreimer
Looking for Grannies as Caregivers
Medicare Enrollment Starts Earlier
Attention, everyone on Medicare: This year there’s a new, earlier
deadline if you want to change your
Medicare coverage for 2012. Open
enrollment now runs from Oct. 15 to
Dec. 7 (instead of Nov. 15 to Dec. 31,
as in previous years). ; Open enroll-
ment gives you the chance to switch to
another Part D prescription drug plan,
or to another Medicare Advantage
plan, or from traditional Medicare to
a Medicare Advantage plan and vice
versa. ; During this period you can
compare the costs and benefits of your
current coverage with other plans on
Medicare’s website at medicare.gov
or by calling 1-800-633-4227. ; If
you change plans by Dec. 7, your new
coverage begins Jan. 1. If you don’t
change, your current coverage will
likely continue through 2012—unless
specific situations (such as receiving
Part D Extra Help) allow you to switch
plans during the year. —Patricia Barry
OCT
15
DEC
7
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Medicare fraud is alive and thriving. One of the latest examples involves a Mary-
land podiatrist who pleaded guilty in July to
bilking the federal health care program of more
than $1 million. ; Larry Bernhard, 55, faces at
least two years in jail after admitting he turned in
fraudulent invoices to providers from his practice
in Gambrills, Md. According to the U.S. Attorney’s
Office in Maryland, Bernhard “flagrantly ripped
off” Medicare Advantage, which is offered through
private health insurers
but regulated by the
federal government.
He had even billed for
foot care on a double
amputee, according to
the plea agreement.
; The fraudulent
submissions were
from October 2007
to July 2010—the
same time Bernhard
was prohibited from
participating in federal
health care programs.
His name had been
added to the Depart-
ment of Health and
Human Services’ list
of banned providers
for earlier infractions,
yet somehow Bernhard’s claims were approved.
; “There are many faults within the system,” says
Malcolm Sparrow, a professor at Harvard Universi-
ty’s Kennedy School of Government and author of
License to Steal: How Fraud Bleeds America’s Health
Care System. “You’d imagine that if they identified
a person and tagged him for exclusion, they would
have some way that would not allow him back into
the system. It’s very distressing.” ; A spokesperson
for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,
which oversees Medicare Advantage, says the private insurers that offer Medicare Advantage should
at least check a provider’s name against the federal
government’s banned list. ; Bernhard is scheduled
for sentencing Nov. 21. —Angela Bryant Starke
