MIAMI, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Two Florida penis pump purveyors allegedly bilked Medicare for phony claims, including for four pumps for a single female patient, officials said.
The Hialeah companies, Charlie RX and Happy Trips, together fraudulently billed Medicare $63,000 for vacuum-erection systems -- at $395 a piece -- that are supposed to help remedy male patients' impotence, the Miami Herald reported Tuesday.
The federal Medicare program paid the two companies $28,600, charges unsealed Monday in Miami federal court showed.
"That we should have caught," said Medicare spokesman Peter Ashkenaz of the payments for the woman's pumps.
Emilio Felipe Lopez, 47, president of Charlie RX, and Orlando Hernandez Estevez, 25, president of Happy Trips, in February were indicted on charges of healthcare fraud. FBI agents last week arrested the two, who authorities said were in hiding. UPI
