Pubdate: Tue, 22 Nov 2005
Source: City Paper, The (TN)
Copyright: 2005, The City Paper,LLC
Contact:  http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3080
DILAUDID PROBLEM NEEDS TO BE TAKEN CARE OF

If someone who worked for you stole money out of the cash register, 
would you let them keep their job? The answer is: of course not.

Yet the federal government lets people who steal from TennCare stay 
on the health insurance rolls.

This issue was illustrated last week when federal, state and local 
officials busted dozens of people for selling Dilaudid they obtained 
on TennCare for illegal use. Dilaudid is a painkiller widely 
prescribed for post-surgical pain relief and management of acute or 
chronic pain.

In some rural counties, the abuse of Dilaudid has passed the more 
widely known use of methamphetamine.

Herea€TMs how the scam works: TennCare abusers visit several doctors 
who prescribe the painkiller for what they believe is a true illness. 
The scammers then turn around and sell the pills to drug abusers, who 
have learned to crush the pills, liquefy them and inject them into 
their bloodstream.

Nashville is a big part of the problem. Pills that sell for $13 in 
Nashville go for $20-$30 in rural parts of the state.

The only cure for this TennCare malady is to pass federal legislation 
that would allow states to kick those people off the rolls who abuse 
the system by stealing, in effect.

Medicaid reform legislation in the House of Representatives would 
give states flexibility in dealing with these issues. It seems like a 
no-brainer that stealing from the government should have consequences.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman