I always figured that place was shady...

The Scooter Store is owned by Sun Capital, the investment firm owned by Marc Leder, the guy who hosted the fundraiser where Mitt Romney made his "47%" comment.

Seriously, I didn't even give that Chapo Guzman killed in a firefight story a Newflash tag.

propasaurus: The Scooter Store is owned by Sun Capital, the investment firm owned by Marc Leder, the guy who hosted the fundraiser where Mitt Romney made his "47%" comment.

That'll teach them to oppose The Anointed One

dj_bigbird: propasaurus: The Scooter Store is owned by Sun Capital, the investment firm owned by Marc Leder, the guy who hosted the fundraiser where Mitt Romney made his "47%" comment.

That'll teach them to oppose The Anointed One

What's this got to do with Palin?

propasaurus: dj_bigbird: propasaurus: The Scooter Store is owned by Sun Capital, the investment firm owned by Marc Leder, the guy who hosted the fundraiser where Mitt Romney made his "47%" comment.

That'll teach them to oppose The Anointed One

What's this got to do with Palin?

Well, most of The Scooter Store's customers are tired of walking long distances, which is why they buy scooters. As for Palin...

...don't you think she looks tired?

zulius: I always figured that place was shady...

Well, it's a company that makes it's money by billing Medicare that's owned by a right wing Republican?  What about that makes "shady" come to mind?

vpb: zulius: I always figured that place was shady...

Well, it's a company that makes it's money by billing Medicare that's owned by a right wing Republican?  What about that makes "shady" come to mind?

True. It's not like Florida's governor was involved. I'm sure the place is legit.

You mean the Tea Party's HQ was raided?

Hoveround guy sings about how Scooter Store can go fark itself.

They advertise the hell out of these and hoverounds on over-the-air tv and have for some time. The biggest selling point seems to be the fact the government will pay for it.

Now my Hoveround business will completely dominate the scooter market for the obese and elderly, mwahahaha!

Hope this guy is next:

Nina_Hartley's_Ass: They advertise the hell out of these and hoverounds on over-the-air tv and have for some time. The biggest selling point seems to be the fact the government will pay for it.

I wonder how many people got them just to sell?
There are over 1000 of them for sale on Ebay at any given time.

Republicans, eh?

No explanation for why Wal*Mart stock plummets.

Nina_Hartley's_Ass: They advertise the hell out of these and hoverounds on over-the-air tv and have for some time. The biggest selling point seems to be the fact the government will pay for it.

It's like an Obama Phone but bigger. And you can ride it!

And yet the government still won't pay for my manatee aqua scooter.

Thanks Obama!

TommyymmoT: Nina_Hartley's_Ass: They advertise the hell out of these and hoverounds on over-the-air tv and have for some time. The biggest selling point seems to be the fact the government will pay for it.

I wonder how many people got them just to sell?
There are over 1000 of them for sale on Ebay at any given time.

I work for a company that provides power wheelchairs and have literally never seen that. Usually the person that received it will die and a relative will try to sell it. Medicare has a mandatory 13 month rental period now so if the patient becomes ineligible they can not keep the chair.
I am glad the scooter store is going down. They are well known fraudsters.

propasaurus: The Scooter Store is owned by Sun Capital, the investment firm owned by Marc Leder, the guy who hosted the fundraiser where Mitt Romney made his "47%" comment.

And, yet, predictably, despite this being broken up by Obama-era FBI and far from the first instance of Medicare fraud conducted by Republican movers-and-shakers, both my right-wing family members on Facebook are on a rampage about how this proves liberal corruption.

TFA stated people using these machines in airports to cut in line then running off after they get first dibs in line. i doubt they are bringing their own chairs. these sound like public use chairs in the airport for handicapped to use.

this is not a reason to examine the chair manufacturer/seller. this is a scumbag at the airport problem. scumbags who take chairs away from those in need to jump the line should be held by airport security. let them miss their flight, maybe they won't pull such tomfoolery again.

and if Uncle Sam has a problem with too many doctors writing paper for the chairs they should take it up with the doctors. the supplier just sells them.

Subby is going straight to hell at no more than 6 MPH

For no apparent reason, I've gotten lots of spam from them (or one of their "affiliates"). So I figured they were shady.

KrispyKritter: TFA stated people using these machines in airports to cut in line then running off after they get first dibs in line. i doubt they are bringing their own chairs. these sound like public use chairs in the airport for handicapped to use.

this is not a reason to examine the chair manufacturer/seller. this is a scumbag at the airport problem. scumbags who take chairs away from those in need to jump the line should be held by airport security. let them miss their flight, maybe they won't pull such tomfoolery again.

and if Uncle Sam has a problem with too many doctors writing paper for the chairs they should take it up with the doctors. the supplier just sells them.

Two separate stories, one article.

KrispyKritter: TFA stated people using these machines in airports to cut in line then running off after they get first dibs in line. i doubt they are bringing their own chairs. these sound like public use chairs in the airport for handicapped to use.

this is not a reason to examine the chair manufacturer/seller. this is a scumbag at the airport problem. scumbags who take chairs away from those in need to jump the line should be held by airport security. let them miss their flight, maybe they won't pull such tomfoolery again.

and if Uncle Sam has a problem with too many doctors writing paper for the chairs they should take it up with the doctors. the supplier just sells them.

Read it again.

hmmmmn,.... what to post....?
"no new fix old?"
"keep govment out of our medicare?"
that handy long-armed reachy-grabby thing so people in wheelchairs can grab the peanut butter off of the top shelf?
Wilford Brimley Diabeetus?
"Hooveraround taaaakes meee where I waaanaa go?"

Screw it, I'll just go with the obvious paraphrasing of Daniel Tosh "does anyone else ever daydream abour being on the price is right?"

I'm gonna pass on the redneck starter package.

FTFA: <I>[Former salesman Brian] Setzer told CBS This Morning that the company's strategy was to 'bulldoze' doctors into writing prescriptions, so people would get the chairs, whether they needed them or not. 'They were just pushing harder and harder to get chairs sold,' Setzer said." </i>

I guess he was just mad that the old folks couldn't Stray Cat Strut in their powerchairs.

\That was the best I got.  Weak, but hey.  +.25 for trying?

PSA:  products that treat actual medical conditions and require a doctor's prescription don't need to advertise on TV - your doctor will prescribe it if you need it.

The tea baggers all ride scooters and hoverounds. And now Obama's coming for their scotters.

It all makes sense.

propasaurus: The Scooter Store is owned by Sun Capital, the investment firm owned by Marc Leder, the guy who hosted the fundraiser where Mitt Romney made his "47%" comment.

Ladies and gentlemen, you next governor of Florida.

trippdogg: PSA:  products that treat actual medical conditions and require a doctor's prescription don't need to advertise on TV - your doctor will prescribe it if you need it.

They are actually advertising a place to FILL prescriptions. (For power wheel chairs) just like Walgreens does on the radio here.
/Still crooks
//just sayin'

Nina_Hartley's_Ass: They advertise the hell out of these and hoverounds on over-the-air tv and have for some time. The biggest selling point seems to be the fact the government will pay for it.

"And it didn't cost me one red cent"

Color me surprised that there was fraud going on.

My SiL just got her Scooter in December, so I'm getting kicks...

/she needs it...she's in advanced MS
//she's a fox, too
///did I mention she's hawt?

It's about farking time. That place always struck me as crooked. When someone advertises 'Well get Medicare to pay for your scooter or we'll give it to you for free!' something isn't right. At least these people got something for them, unlike in Miami where the products don't even exist.

Next order of business needs to be all of the 'SSI Lawyers'. My wife is a nurse, and she tells me the stories of how an entire family will come in with identical symptoms of how they're hearing voices and seeing things. You would think half of Florida was haunted to hear these idiots talk about it. So if it doesn't work? Just work on your act and find another doctor! Didn't fool him either? Well, just keep on going.

Remember you only need 3 refusals before you can hire your SSI Lawyer! No money, no problem, they work on contingency!

I'm guessing the only reason it took so long was the backlog of work for the lawyers- the Federal Government doesn't have the manpower to do everything it wants these days. Once they got the preliminary case built against them, well, send in the FBI.

Matt Taibbi's now-infamous Rolling Stone article is relevant here.

Scanning the thousands of hopped-up faces in the crowd, I am immediately struck by two things. One is that there isn't a single black person here. The other is the truly awesome quantity of medical hardware: Seemingly every third person in the place is sucking oxygen from a tank or propping their giant atrophied glutes on motorized wheelchair-scooters. As Palin launches into her Ronald Reagan impression - "Government's not the solution! Government's the problem!" - the person sitting next to me leans over and explains.

"The scooters are because of Medicare," he whispers helpfully. "They have these commercials down here: 'You won't even have to pay for your scooter! Medicare will pay!' Practically everyone in Kentucky has one."

A hall full of elderly white people in Medicare-paid scooters, railing against government spending and imagining themselves revolutionaries as they cheer on the vice-presidential puppet hand-picked by the GOP establishment. If there exists a better snapshot of everything the Tea Party represents, I can't imagine it.

After Palin wraps up, I race to the parking lot in search of departing Medicare-motor-scooter conservatives. I come upon an elderly couple, Janice and David Wheelock, who are fairly itching to share their views.

"I'm anti-spending and anti-government," crows David, as scooter-bound Janice looks on. "The welfare state is out of control."

"OK," I say. "And what do you do for a living?"

"Me?" he says proudly. "Oh, I'm a property appraiser. Have been my whole life."

I frown. "Are either of you on Medicare?"

Silence: Then Janice, a nice enough woman, it seems, slowly raises her hand, offering a faint smile, as if to say, You got me!

"Let me get this straight," I say to David. "You've been picking up a check from the government for decades, as a tax assessor, and your wife is on Medicare. How can you complain about the welfare state?"

"Well," he says, "there's a lot of people on welfare who don't deserve it. Too many people are living off the government."

"But," I protest, "you live off the government. And have been your whole life!"

"Yeah," he says, "but I don't make very much."

propasaurus: The Scooter Store is owned by Sun Capital, the investment firm owned by Marc Leder, the guy who hosted the fundraiser where Mitt Romney made his "47%" comment.

Without him, maybe it would only be 46%.

liltingbanshee: For no apparent reason, I've gotten lots of spam from them (or one of their "affiliates"). So I figured they were shady.

This.  Every time I check my spam filter, there are always a few ads from the Scooter Store saying they can get me a free scooter if I have medicare.  It's right there with ads for Viagra, 419 scam letters, pitches for questionable diet drugs, and ads for Christianminge.com.

I have a little policy, if I get spam from any company, I presume them to be a scam.

vpb: zulius: I always figured that place was shady...

Well, it's a company that makes it's money by billing Medicare that's owned by a right wing Republican?  What about that makes "shady" come to mind?

I snerked.

Subby, do you mean "The Shcooter Shtore"?  That's what the ads say!

I've always said their commercials should say "and we'll double-bill ... I mean, bill ... Medicare directly."

trippdogg: PSA:  products that treat actual medical conditions and require a doctor's prescription don't need to advertise on TV - your doctor will prescribe it if you need it.

There are some pharmaceutical companies who would most likely disagree with you.  It seems like the whole world must be suffering from diabetes and asthma...

I'd like to know how they "bulldoze" doctors into prescribing scooters.

BarkingUnicorn: I'd like to know how they "bulldoze" doctors into prescribing scooters.

I've got an old college classmate who's a medical student now.  He tells me that apparently it's a well-known pattern of harassment in the medical community, even to the point of getting people to ambush docs in parking lots with papers and trying to pressure them into signing prescriptions.  They'll call and clog up phone lines at offices with sales pitches, basically stalk physicians and pester them into signing prescriptions for their product.

They basically use the most weaselly of hard-sell cold-call tactics on doctors to try to pressure them to approve dubious prescriptions for medical devices that the doctors didn't think the patients needed.  Y'know kinda sounds illegal.  The FBI seemed to think so.

Imagine that. A company which advertises that it commits medicare fraud and violates the anti-kickback regulations in it's commercials gets raided by the FBI for committing medicare fraud and violating the anti-kickback regulations.

Lawnchair: propasaurus: The Scooter Store is owned by Sun Capital, the investment firm owned by Marc Leder, the guy who hosted the fundraiser where Mitt Romney made his "47%" comment.

And, yet, predictably, despite this being broken up by Obama-era FBI and far from the first instance of Medicare fraud conducted by Republican movers-and-shakers, both my right-wing family members on Facebook are on a rampage about how this proves liberal corruption.

LOLWUT