When it comes to wealth, you can work for it, mine for it, invent a better mousetrap, or even win it.  One disabled Vietnam Veteran, however, has stumbled upon a new means to create wealth.  Best of all, it is , completely above board as well as inspirational! Read all about it:

Wheelchair-Bound Vietnam Vet Uncovers Multimillion Dollar Medicaid Fraud

Tuckerton, New Jersey – A wheelchair-bound Vietnam veteran with muscular dystrophy, from New Jersey, was enjoying his $15 million whistle-blower reward Wednesday, after he uncovered a multimillion dollar medical aid fraud.

Richard West, 63, of Tuckerton, first found that his Medicaid benefits were wrongly maxed out in 2004, during a visit to the dentist.  West spent the past seven years investigating the scam, the New York Post reported.

Following the dentist visit, West returned home and examined his own records. He found that Maxim Healthcare, the agency that provides his health aides, had billed the government for care he had never received, including visits from nurses he had never met.

After spending months trying to get government officials to investigate the scam, he hired a lawyer and filed a Federal lawsuit.  His efforts resulted in the largest financial settlement in home healthcare fraud history.

West said, “From my wheelchair, on a ventilator and oxygen, I have spent the last seven years in this fight. The more I uncovered, the more pissed off I got that someone was making money on my disability. It’s people like me that will keep these big companies honest,” he added.

Maxim, which has 300 offices in 40 states across the U.S., was found to have made $61 million from phony reimbursements. The company agreed to pay $121.5 million in reimbursements and penalties for the fake Medicaid claims and $8.4 million to the Veterans Administration. It was also fined $20 million (an admission of guilt).

West received $15 million for his efforts.  Under Federal law, he was entitled to a percentage of the cash the company was ordered to pay back. He said he would spend his new millions on a new van and home improvements as well donations to charities for the disabled.

This story is amazing and for Mr. West, rewarding. It came to me via an email on September 14, 2011, and appeared important and compelling enough to pass on to our readers for their enjoyment.  With all of the billions of taxpayer dollars squandered by our government on bailouts, stimulus, earmarks, and frivolous spending, this comes as a breath of fresh air in a cheese factory!

Despite the old cliché, “You can’t fight City Hall,” it appears that sometimes, you can.  Sometimes, the good guys win.  And how uplifting that the good guy in question is a man who bravely served his country with honor.  As a wise man once said, “He who whistles in the dark may whistle up a fortune,” and that’s not just whistling Dixie!

So, if you want to continue to keep the thieving bastards honest, and possibly reap rewards for doing so, check your healthcare records carefully.  You, too, may be a winner!

Would You Buy a Used Car from These Guys?

The typical household budget in America today is collapsing under the weight of declining property values, rampant unemployment, and inflationary pressures created by a weak dollar.  As a result, many Americans are faced with the grim reality that their individual lifestyles must change or they, like our federal government, will be unable to pay their obligations at some point in the very near future.

As our legislators in Washington debate increasing the nation’s $14+ trillion debt limit so that they can continue printing money that is worth progressively less to pay creditors, government workers, and beneficiaries of entitlement and social welfare programs, perhaps they should consider how this money is being spent.  Below is a video clip from Project Veritas, an organization dedicated to investigating and exposing “corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud, and other misconduct in both public and private institutions in order to achieve a more ethical and transparent society.”  In the video, two purported Russian immigrant drug dealers, or as they refer to themselves – “Bob Marley Pharmaceuticals” dealers, seek public assistance via various federally-funded programs at a Medicaid office in Ohio.  The sadly laughable responses of the public employees in the video vividly demonstrate the enormous potential for waste and fraud in these publicly-funded programs.

For anyone who has ever had the occasion to deal with government agencies and their employees, the video above is hardly shocking.  Drug dealing, money laundering, child prostitution, and income tax evasion are but a few of the crimes of which the government workers secretly filmed are made aware.  Yet, there is no indication that any of the officials in the video are alarmed, or even surprised by what they are being told.  Nor, in the aftermath of the interview was any attempt made to alert law enforcement to any of these criminal activities.  One wonders how often public employees across the country counsel individuals to defraud the government and its taxpayers.  And, while you might surmise that this is an isolated incident, take a look at the following video in which a substantially-similar story is told at a Medicaid office in Virginia, with similar results.