miami

MIAMI — Federal authorities arrested 30 people, including doctors, and were seeking others in a major Medicare fraud bust Wednesday in New York, Louisiana, Boston and Houston, targeting scams such as “arthritis kits” – expensive braces that many patients never used. More than 200 agents worked on the $16 million bust that included 12 search warrants at health care businesses and homes across the Houston area, where 27 were arrested. Federal authorities say those businesses were giving patients “arthritis kits,” which were nothing more than expensive orthotics that included knee and shoulder braces and heating pads. Patients told authorities they were unnecessary and many never even received them