"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
NOYB wrote:
"Don White" wrote in message
...

"Harry Krause" wrote in message

Unfortunately, that effort did not succeed, and conditions have gotten
worse for them since. The corporations simply fired everyone, knowing
that the NLRB during the Bush misAdministration wouldn't uphold labor
law.

snip


That's really bad news.......and people wonder why some early unions were
forced to deal with organized crime. When you have both the employer and
gov't against you, an an indifferent public, you accept whatever helping
hand is offered.


"Helping hand" you say?
Lawsuit says corruption rampant in Jersey union
No-show jobs, nepotism, mob ties cited
Thursday, January 13, 2005
BY TED SHERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff
Some of the highest-paying jobs at Local 734 of the Laborers'
International Union of North America -- which represents thousands of
workers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania -- had little to do with digging
ditches.

Now, that's a stupid lead. Very few LIUNA jobs these days have anything to
do with digging ditches.


There was the wife of one former union official, who was hired after her
husband was convicted on federal labor law violations for attempting to
create a no-show job. She received $111,799 to come in twice a week to
listen to voice mail messages from members with benefits questions,
according to court records.

She needs to be prosecuted and if convicted, sent to jail.



The Laborers' union now is seeking a federal investigation into the New
Jersey local, claiming that members were defrauded of more than $2
million in a scheme that saw the hiring of relatives and business cronies
to perform "non-essential, part-time and ruse jobs at grossly excessive
salaries."

That's the appropriate response by an International and usually what
happens.

And, despite the fact that some officials of that local were corrupt and
were removed, there are thousands of corrupt corporate execs in NJ
fleecing the public.

You might want to look more closely at the bill you get from your dentist:


The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Defense
(DoD) announced today that on July 17, 2002, Ralph J. Sharow, a Freehold,
NJ, dentist, was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Newark, NJ, to 27
months in prison and 3 years probation on each count, to run concurrently;
restitution of $264,363.90; and a special assessment fee of $200. The
sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge William H. Walls.
This sentence is the result of a guilty plea that Sharow entered on
January 16, 2002. Sharow pled guilty to a two-count criminal information
charging him with one count of health care fraud and one count of income
tax evasion.

An investigation revealed that from as early as 1994, Sharow, who operates
a dental practice at 1 Stonehurst Boulevard, Freehold, NJ, defrauded the
DoD insurance program known as TRICARE and private dental insurance
programs out of approximately $200,000 by billing for services that he did
not provide. The TRICARE loss alone totaled approximately $20,000.
Furthermore, for the years of 1995, 1996, and 1997 combined, Sharow evaded
$392,998 in federal income tax by submitting false tax returns to the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In the 3 years combined, Sharow
underreported his income by $915,648.
January 2002

On January 16, 2002, Ralph J. Sharow, DDS, a Freehold, NJ dentist, pled
guilty, in U.S. District Court, Newark, NJ to one-charge of both health
care fraud and income tax evasion. According to a report from Defense
Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Dr. Sharow filed fraudulent claims
with various dental insurance programs, defrauding these programs out of
approximately $200,000 by billing for services not rendered. Among the
dental insurance programs defrauded were the TRICARE Family Member Dental
Program (TFMDP), administered internationally by United Concordia for the
Department of Defense (DoD). The TFMDP has been replaced by the TRICARE
Dental Program (TDP), also administered by United Concordia, providing
dental benefits to dependents of active duty uniformed services personnel,
including Reservists and their families.

Dr. Sharow first came to the attention of United Concordia's Special
Investigations Unit (SIU) as a result of a complaint from one of his
patients. The subsequent investigation revealed that, as early as 1994,
Dr. Sharow defrauded the TRICARE and commercial dental insurance programs,
while evading more than $390,000 in federal income taxes by submitting
false tax returns to the Internal Revenue Services (IRS). Initially, based
on fraud allegations received by DCIS from SIU, the investigation revealed
that Dr. Sharow routinely billed United Concordia and other insurers for
dental procedures, primarily composite restorations and sealants, which he
never performed.

On April 29, 2002, Dr. Sharow is scheduled to be sentenced. He faces up to
ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the health care fraud count and
a maximum of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine on the income tax
evasion count.


On June 1, 2001, James Paul Kalhorn, D.D.S., was sentenced in Federal
District Court, Denver, CO, to 2 years probation and ordered to pay
$25,000 in restitution and a $5,000 fine. On February 15, 2001, Kalhorn
pled guilty to a one-count information charging him with making or causing
to be made a false statement or representation involving a Federal Health
Care program. A previous indictment was dismissed upon Kalhorn's plea to
the indictment.

The investigation was conducted jointly by the Defense Criminal
Investigative Service (DCIS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
and with the assistance of United Concordia's Special Investigation's Unit
(SIU). The prosecution was handled by the United States Attorney's Office,
District of Colorado.

On February 15, 2001, James Paul Kalhorn, D.D.S., plead guilty to making
or causing to be made a false statement or representations involving a
Federal health care program. A previous indictment was dismissed upon
Kalhorn's plea. Between January 1996 and December 1999, Kalhorn submitted
numerous claims to TRICARE's contracted dental carrier, United Concordia
Companies, Inc., Great-West Life, and Delta Dental for periodontal scaling
and root planing that according to medical reviews, were not necessary.
The procedure is performed and billed in segments of the mouth, or
quadrants. Kalhorn submitted claims for quadrants of root planing and
scaling for dates of service when patients were not present. Kalhorn also
submitted claims for periodontal pocket depth charts for scaling and root
planing that contained measurements, patients said were not performed by
Kalhorn.

In June 1998, a Fairfield, California dentist plead guilty to a felony
health care fraud and paid over a half-million dollars to settle federal
civil charges. United Concordia during a routine review of utilization
statistics, detected billing irregularities that ultimately led to federal
prosecution. The case was one of the first in the nation to be prosecuted
under the Kennedy-Kassenbaum federal health care statute.


Who knows what we'll be reading about Naples, Florida, dentists, eh?

Touche. ;-)

But I don't bill insurance companies. I bill the patients...and those who
have insurance (less than 40% of my patients) then submit a claim to the
insurance company for reimbursement.