Page 18 For Advertising with Results, call The Advocate Newspapers at 617-387-2200 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, ApRil 4, 2025 COMMENTARY | FROM PAGE 8 has only weakened its ability to eff ectively oversee its fi - nances -- creating a fat target for scam artists who calculate their odds of success are high and their risk of getting caught is low. The numbers paint an alarming picture. In fi scal year 2024, 7.66% of the payments Medicare’s Fee-for-Service program made to providers were “improper,” meaning they failed to comply with legal requirements. Those payments totaled more than $31 billion. The improper payment rates for Medicare Advantage and the Medicare prescription CITY OF EVERETT - LEGAL NOTICE - ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS 484 BROADWAY, ROOM 24 EVERETT, MASSACHUSETTS 02149 To Whom It May Concern: This notice is to inform you that a public hearing will be held on Tuesday April 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM, Everett City Hall, 3rd Floor George Keverian Hearing Room. All interested parties may attend and opinions will be heard regarding the following petition. Whereas a petition has been presented by: Property Address: Map/Parcel: 203-205 Hancock Street B0-06-00105A Person Requesting: B-25-212 Property Owner: RKRA Hancock LLC 120 Wyllis Ave Unit 316 Everett, MA 02149 PROPOSAL: Applicant seeks a permit for to convert the existing Business Use into a Mixed-Use Building by adding two (2) floors, with Four (4) Residential units. The property is located in the Dwelling District. Violations: The property is nonconforming as to the following provisions of the Ordinance: - Section 4.A – Commercial uses are not permitted in the Dwelling District, nor is the proposed mixed use. - Section 4.B.1.a – Frontage: Required is 50 feet; existing is 38.22 feet. - Section 4.B.2.c – Area/FAR: Required is 0.5 FAR; existing is 0.818 FAR; proposed is 2.45 FAR. - Section 4.C.4 – Front setback: Required is 10 feet; existing is 0 feet. - Section 4.C.6.a – Combined side setback: Required is 16 feet; existing is 3 feet. - Section 4.C.6.a – Northwest side setback: Required is 4 feet; existing is 0 feet. - Section 4.C.6.a - Southwest side setback: Required is 4 feet; existing is 3 feet. - Section 4.C.7 – Rear setback: Required is 25 feet; existing is 0 feet. - Section 17 – Parking: Required is shown as 11 spaces per applicant’s submission; existing is 0 parking spaces. The applicant proposes to change, alter or extend the existing nonconforming use and construct additional floors along the existing nonconforming dimensions. Accordingly, a special permit will be required from the Board of Appeals in accordance with Section 3.C. In addition, the applicant must either participate in the Transportation Demand Management provisions of Section 35 or obtain a special permit to increase the existing parking nonconformity. REBECCA EDMONDSON KOREM - Chairman ROBERTA SUPPA - Clerk of Board of Appeals April 4, 11, 2025 drug benefi t were not much better -- 5.61% and 3.70%, respectively. That translates into a total of over $22 billion in improper payments across the two programs in fi scal 2024. In all, Medicare accounts for nearly one-fourth of the funds improperly spent by the government each year, according to a report from the Government Accountability Offi ce. That’s a pitiful record -- and has real human consequences, both for seniors and for taxpayers. Consider some of the most egregious cases of Medicare fraud. Earlier this year, a couple from Arizona “pleaded guilty for causing over $1.2 billion of false and fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare and other health insurance programs for expensive, medically unnecessary wound grafts that were applied to elderly and terminally ill patients,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2023, the Department of Justice charged 23 Michigan residents with nabbing more than $61.5 million from Medicare for unnecessary home health services. The feds allege that the defendants set up a complex web of home healthcare agencies in Detroit using straw owners -- such as family members -- and then paid bribes and kickbacks to recruiters to gain additional patients. Every dollar spent improperly -- or fraudulently -- in Medicare is a dollar that can’t go to a senior with legitimate healthcare needs. Policymakers have already identified numerous concrete strategies for reforming the program. One is to ensure that Medicare pays the same amount for equivalent services no matter where they’re provided. This change, which has long been championed by GAO, could save taxpayers more than $140 billion over the next decade. Another potential reform would be to conduct more thorough audits of payments and claims. Auditors working at the state level have historically been successful at identifying fraud. Using their insights to improve federal Medicare oversight could help policymakers keep managing the program eff ectively as it continues to grow. Work of the sort DOGE is doing is sorely needed. Waste and fraud run rampant in the federal government. Reforming Medicare can save not just money but lives. Sally C. Pipes is President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy at the Pacifi c Research Institute. Her latest book is The World’s Medicine Chest: How America Achieved Pharmaceutical Supremacy -- and How to Keep It (Encounter 2025). Follow her on X @sallypipes. This piece originally ran in the Detroit News.
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