Medicare pays, but providers do not; $2 billion in back taxes owed

WASHINGTON — Health-care providers collect millions of dollars in federal Medicare payments each year despite owing the government more than $2 billion in back taxes, congressional investigators said Thursday.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that more than 27,000 nursing homes, hospitals, physicians and other providers flouted the tax system while collecting Medicare fees in 2006. That represented 6 percent of all providers in a Medicare program that served 43.2 million people and paid out $402 billion in benefits that year.

The report did not cite provider names. Auditors performed the study at the request of Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Norm Coleman, R-Minn., the chairman and ranking Republican, respectively, of the Government Affairs subcommittee on investigations.

The study follows other GAO reports and congressional hearings since 2004 that have looked into why billions of dollars in taxes owed by government contractors remain uncollected.

Few Cold War vet claims granted

The Veterans Affairs Department has granted only 6 percent of health claims filed by veterans of secret Cold War chemical- and germ-warfare tests conducted by the Pentagon, according to figures obtained by The Associated Press.

Veterans advocates called the number appallingly low.

By comparison, about 88 percent of processed claims from Gulf War vets were granted as of last year, according to VA documents. More than 90 percent of processed claims from Iraq and Afghanistan vets were granted as of earlier this year.

Thousands of service members were exposed, often without their knowledge, to real and simulated chemical and biological agents, including sarin and VX. The tests were conducted at sea and above a half-dozen U.S. states from 1962-73 to see how U.S. ships would withstand chemical and germ assaults and how such weapons would disperse.

NOAA tightens shark quotas, fin rules

To curb the illegal practice of removing shark fins at sea, U.S. officials announced Thursday that all sharks caught in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico must be brought ashore with their fins attached.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also reduced by 85 percent the commercial fishing quota for the sandbar shark, a popular species for the Asian delicacy of shark fin soup. Recreational fishermen also will be banned from catching and keeping sandbar sharks.

The new rules, which will take effect July 24, will help rebuild populations, NOAA says, because sharks take years to mature and produce few offspring.

Anti-smoking drug warning issued

The Veterans Affairs Department is sending letters to 33,000 veterans who are taking the anti-smoking drug Chantix, warning them about possible side effects, including suicidal thoughts.

VA Secretary James Peake said Thursday that agency doctors will continue to prescribe the drug because they are seeing no serious problems or trends with its use.

He defended the VA's use of the drug to treat some of the veterans with stress disorders who were participating in a study to stop smoking. Of the 143 veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder who took Chantix in the study, he said that three — or 2 percent — experienced thoughts of suicide. Of the roughly 800 veterans in the study who did not take Chantix, 35 had suicidal thoughts — or about 4.4 percent, he said.

The letter going out Thursday urges anyone who is experiencing side effects or is worried about the drug to consult a doctor.

Seattle Times news services