Now you see them, now you don’t. Apparently, there are a growing number of fraudulent pharmacies that are, essentially, fly-by-night operations and are billing millions of dollars to Medicare and private insurers - and then disappearing, according to a letter released this week from US Senator Chuck Grassley to the US Department of Health and Human Services. He complains HHS isn’t propertly investigating complaints.

A Miami area pharmacy billed an insurer $26,000 for antipsychotics and inhalers during a three-day period, but the owners soon disappeared, their lease is in default and the store is empty. A Los Angeles pharmacy billed $1.3 million under the Part D program over 18 months, more than double the Rite Aid pharmacy blocks away. Another Miami pharmacy billed an insurer $245,000 in false claims in less than three months, and the owner later bought a one-way ticket to Europe, where he is at large.