Critical Illness Protection - The Gapin Hole in Health Care Coverage
A discussion covering the topic of Critical Illness, and why everyone should take the necessary steps to protect themselves, and their families, in case they...

By: Bob Levine

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Critical Illness Protection - The Gapin Hole in Health Care Coverage - Video

How can we cure our ailing health care system?

That was the question posed by the film Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Health Care. The film was presented as part of the Center for Community Growths 2014 film series on Friday at the Indiana Theater along Philadelphia Street.

American health care costs are rising so rapidly that they could reach $4.2 trillion annually, roughly 20 percent of our gross domestic product, within 10 years, according to the films website. We spend $300 billion a year on pharmaceutical drugs almost as much as the rest of the world combined. We pay more, yet our health outcomes are worse.

[PHOTO: Peter Broad, left, moderated the panel discussion with Dr. Abigail Adams, IUP anthropology professor and medical anthropologist; Dr. Kim Hatcher, president of the Indiana County Medical Society; Lee Bevak, certified application counselor for the Affordable Care Act; and Elizabeth Sierminski, board member of Healthcare 4 All PA. (James J. Nestor/Gazette photo)]

Joining the film was a panel of four people, each with backgrounds in health care or health care policy. The panel consisted of Abigail Adams, IUP anthropology professor and medical anthropologist; Dr. Kim Hatcher, dermatologist and president of the Indiana County Medical Society; Lee Bevak, certified application counselor for the Affordable Care Act, with the Armstrong-Indiana Drug and Alcohol Commission; and Elizabeth Sierminski, Health Care 4 All PA development coordinator and board member and University of Pittsburgh student.

The panel was moderated by Peter Broad, an Indiana Borough councilman.

Initial comments were given by the panel prior to the beginning of the film, with a question-and-answer session held afterward.

The U.S. spends more on health care per capita or as a percentage of gross domestic product than any other nation on earth, Broad said, referring to the films premise. At the same time we have some of the worst health care results when compared to other industrialized nations.

Broad also cited high infant mortality rates and high obesity rates.

Adams urged the audience to go into the film thinking of health care as a business driven by economic demand. Health care has become a compartmentalized system dependent on having a large population of unhealthy individuals, she said. She also asked the audience to consider what she called medical citizenship, or ideas of entitlement and deservedness that articulate what we deem to be the basic rights as citizens, what human rights are recognized as regarding health.

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Forum, film shine spotlight on health care

Dr. Enyibuaku Rita Uzoaga, 41, and Charles Harris, 53, have been indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and health care fraud, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson.

The seven-count indictment was returned Feb. 12, 2014, and unsealed this morning as Uzoaga surrendered to federal authorities. She is expected to make an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge George C. Hanks Jr. at 10:00 a.m. today.

Harris, aka Celestine Nwajfor and Okechi Nwajiofor, is a fugitive and a warrant remains outstanding for his arrest. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact the FBI at 713-693-5000.

The indictment alleges that from approximately 2006 through 2010, Uzoaga, Harris and others falsely billed Medicare and Medicaid for numerous unnecessary vestibular diagnostic tests. Some patients were allegedly tested more than 1,000 times. According to the indictment, the testing was either not performed, not medically necessary and/or not performed by licensed individuals.

Harris had allegedly operated Cevine Health Care and Rehabilitation Center in the Houston area and performed the tests, according to the charges.

Vestibular diagnostic testing is used to diagnose a person for vertigo or dizziness. Upon diagnosis, patients usually undergo physical therapy, take medication or undergo surgery as treatment.

As a result of this allegedly unlawful scheme, Medicare and Medicaid were billed approximately $653,970 in submitted, fraudulent vestibular diagnostic claims, and paid approximately $389,285 on those claims. From 2006 to 2010, vestibular testing comprised approximately 25 percent of Uzoagas income from Medicare and Medicaid.

If convicted, both face up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 maximum fine on the conspiracy charge as well as the substantive counts of health care fraud.

The charges are the result of the investigative efforts of the Texas Attorney Generals Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, FBI and the United States Attorneys Office. Special Assistant United States Attorney (SAUSA) Suzanne Bradley and AUSA Kebharu Smith are prosecuting the case.

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Houston physician arrested in health care fraud conspiracy