Planned Parenthood Caught in Fraud Scandal, Overbilling State by Tens of Thousands of Dollars

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Aug 30, 2016   |   5:56PM   |   Madison, WI

Several Wisconsin state legislators are asking for a thorough investigation of Planned Parenthood after a state audit revealed massive overbilling to the state Medicaid program.

On Monday, state Reps. Janel Brantjen and Andre Jacque called for a comprehensive audit of the abortion giant to examine the extent of its overbilling practices. Earlier this month, a limited scope audit from the state Department of Health Services Office of the Inspector General found more than $63,000 in overbilling in 2014 by Planned Parenthood and other family planning facilities in Wisconsin.

“Most health care professionals know that if they were to overcharge the taxpayers (or anyone else, for that matter) with such regularity, they would be facing fraud charges and looking at $10,000 fines per incidence along with jail time,” Brantjen and Jacque said in a statement. “Of course, Planned Parenthood isn’t a real healthcare facility, and so they act like the rules shouldn’t apply to them …”

Planned Parenthood’s five Wisconsin facilities alone overbilled Medicaid by $52,193 in 2014, according to the audit.

Some of the problems the auditors found included:

  • Prescription not signed by a valid prescriber
  • Quantity billed does not match quantity dispensed
  • Reimbursement in excess of amount permitted
  • Inaccurately “up-coding” visits to obtain a higher reimbursement rate
  • Reimbursement for a duplicate drug that was not medically necessary
  • No proof of prescription being dispensed
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Brantjen and Jacque said the state auditors reviewed only a sample of the abortion chain’s documents, and a more comprehensive audit would determine the full extent of the overbilling.

“As the total amount billed to taxpayers by these entities in the past few years alone easily stretches into the tens of millions of dollars, it would not be a surprise to uncover millions of dollars in overpayments to Planned Parenthood alone …” they said.

In the past few years, Oklahoma, Texas and several other states also discovered evidence of Planned Parenthood overbilling taxpayers through Medicaid. In April, Nebraska state auditors discovered the abortion giant was illegally funding its abortion practices with federal tax dollars.

The Alliance Defending Freedom has been involved in several lawsuits alleging that Planned Parenthood affiliates overbilled Medicaid. One whistleblower lawsuit involves a former Iowa Planned Parenthood manager who said the abortion business submitted “repeated false, fraudulent, and/or ineligible claims for reimbursements” to Medicaid.

Many Planned Parenthood facilities across the country receive Medicaid reimbursements, but the taxpayer money is not supposed to be used for abortions. However, former abortion clinic workers have said that the taxpayer money does indirectly pay for abortions because the abortion chain does not separate its funds.

Heather Weininger, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life, said she was glad that Gov. Scott Walker signed a law in February to defund Planned Parenthood, especially after learning about the audit.

“It’s continually astounding to see how many ways Planned Parenthood tries to get their hands on taxpayer funds. It seems at every turn, they are looking for ways to use the taxpayer’s dime to foot their bills,” Weininger said. “This only frees up more of their budget to profit off of the dismemberment of unborn children.”

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