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US Coronavirus Stimulus Went to Some Health Care Providers Facing Criminal
Inquiries

Reuters

   WASHINGTON - Eager to bolster the health care system during the
   coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. government last month sped $30 billion
   in stimulus payments to most health care providers that billed Medicare
   last year.

   That speed resulted in taxpayers' money flowing to some companies and
   people facing civil or criminal fraud investigations, according to
   defense lawyers and others representing more than a dozen firms and
   people facing such inquiries.

   The disclosures about such payments have prompted outrage among some
   congressional Democrats, who say they highlight the problems with how
   stimulus funds have been distributed.

   "I have an enormous amount of frustration with the way the Trump
   administration is distributing these dollars, and examples like these
   magnify the consequences of the White House's efforts to limit
   transparency and stonewall oversight," Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon,
   ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, told Reuters.