Official: Staffer used Menendez's name to lobby for doctor

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A staffer to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez used his boss's name to push for the settlement of a multimillion-dollar Medicare dispute involving a wealthy campaign donor, a former health administrator testified in the two men's bribery trial Wednesday.

The staffer was "argumentative and persistent" and said Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen was "a personal friend of the senator," said Louis Jacques of a 2009 phone call. Jacques was an administrator with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and was providing analysis on Melgen's billing dispute with Medicare.

Jacques testified he remembered the call so well because of the staffer's comment that "bad medicine is not illegal, and Medicare should pay these claims." The dispute involved Melgen's practice of "multi-dosing," or treating patients with more than one dose from a vial of medicine, a practice Jacques testified he felt could pose a safety risk for patients.

Jacques testified he was so taken aback by the comment that he stepped out of the room to compose himself for a minute.

Defense attorneys contend the Democratic senator got involved in the Medicare dispute because it provided an example of how Medicare reimbursement policies were inconsistently applied. They sought to show during cross-examination that Medicare policies allowed multi-dosing of other drugs that treated the same condition as the one Melgen was using.

An indictment accuses Menendez of exchanging his political influence for gifts, including flights on Melgen's private jet and luxury hotel stays. In addition to the Medicare dispute, previous testimony described Menendez's involvement in helping the visa applications of Melgen's reputed foreign girlfriends and with a contract dispute over a port screening company Melgen owned in the Dominican Republic.

Jurors were to hear testimony from Democratic former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa on Wednesday afternoon.

The prosecution contends Menendez set up a meeting between Melgen and Harkin in 2011 to see if Harkin could help with Melgen's Medicare billing dispute. Harkin chaired a Senate health committee at the time.

An administrator contracted by Medicare testified Wednesday that Menendez's staffers urged her office not to seek $8.9 million from Melgen in the dispute because Medicare's billing policies were contradictory.