Medicare crooks find safe haven in Cuba

Disgraceful. (And these people are Republicans.) Miami Herald story here.

As Medicare crime spreads across South Florida, accused scammers are escaping in droves to Cuba and other Latin American countries to avoid prosecution — with more than 150 fugitives now wanted for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the U.S. healthcare program, according to the FBI and court records.

The tally of fugitives charged with healthcare fraud here has tripled since 2008, when The Miami Herald first reported on the phenomenon of Cuban immigrants joining the Medicare rackets and fleeing to evade trial in Miami. . . .

Andy Gomez, a senior fellow at the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, said he has heard from sources in Miami and Cuba allegations that the Castro government extorts Medicare bounty from criminals who are allowed to go back and forth between here and the island nation. But he said he knows of no evidence directly implicating the Castro regime in the fraud. . . .

The FBI says the 156 Medicare fraud fugitives from Miami-Dade and other parts of South Florida comprise the majority of fugitives charged with ripping off the program nationwide. . . .