Medicare Fraud: A $70 Billion Taxpayer Ripoff

The Fiscal Times ^ | March 10, 2011 | Merrill Goozner

[Walts Ice Pick]

Medicare could wrench as much as $70 billion a year in savings by cracking down on fraud, experts told Congress this week. But the key is preventing scam artists and fake firms from doing business with the senior citizen health care program in the first place — not chasing them down after the fact.

At a series of congressional hearings, officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services insisted that they are beginning to scrutinize new providers coming into the program, rather than waiting to chase down fraud until after it’s paid the bills. “We are going to keep out the bad guys without making things worse for honest providers, and cut off payments for things that should not be paid,” Peter Budetti, director of program integrity at CMS, told a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. “We want to move from the pay and chase mode to preventing fraud.”

[Walts Ice Pick]

This article demonstrates that these federal welfare programs (Medicare, Social Security) are ready for deep cuts.

[Joe Bfstplk]

I suggest the death penalty upon conviction.

[FatherofFive]

“We want to move from the pay and chase mode to preventing fraud.”

Please show me the Constitutional authority for the government to provide health care.

[Walts Ice Pick]

show me the Constitutional authority for the government to provide health care.

There isn't any constitutional authority for the program. The whole thing is a fraud.

However, now that nearly all of our seniors are on the welfare dole, how many of them want to get off the gravy train? They vote. Cutting these programs way back is probably as far as we'll get, until the programs go broke.

We need to keep cutting the amounts paid to doctors for Medicare services.

[Ethrane]

LMAO. Right.

First, any program with hundreds of BILLIONS of $$ attached are going to be ripe for fraud....and, I would agree, there is much room for ‘deep cuts’...but first, you have to identify the ACTUAL fraud and stop vilifying the profession.

I’m tired of arguing with people about things that AREN’T EVEN IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS LIST OF THINGS TO ‘DO’.

Whatever.

Gee...when you’re watching FoxNews and every other commercial is for a ‘free’ scooter or ‘free’ diabetic supplies do you not think the opportunity for fraud exists?

[boop]

Excellent! Now with seniors being paid to turn their doctors in for fraud, guess what? More “honesty” among crooked doctors/hospitals? More money to treat seniors? Citizen oversight of governmental abuses? Nope. Now even MORE doctors won’t take medicare patients. Not because they don’t care, but because they now have an adversarial relationship with their patients who might be looking for a few bucks “getting” their family doc. Hope the truly needy enjoy not being able to find a doctor when they need one.

[goodnesswins]

Let seniors OPT OUT of Medicare and into something that doesn’t have the gov’t in the middle of it...I hate the thought of having to be forced onto Medicare just because I reach a certain age.....

[cableguymn]

It is broke. Now what?

[esoxmagnum]

But I guarantee they will cut granny before they start cutting out the “crazy checks” that the teachers unions and school districts recruit low income folks to get enrolled in, to keep the school scores up.

Win win there, school gets to not count the student, cuz the student is “special education” and the parents get a monthly check in the mail from Uncle Sam.

In our district it is estimated that 20% of the kids are now classified as such, with their parents getting a stipend from the government. Of that percent, I would bet 75% of those are illegal immigrants.

We have a large Latino population here, and the school district has worked hard to circumvent the no child left behind act. Instead of counting the Spanish-speakers in the general consensus, and bringing the schools down even further (hurting their federal funding, and making the teachers union look bad), they encourage the parents to classify their kids as “troubled” or basically retarded. It is not often a hard sell either, the parents get a pretty good amount of cash from the deal.

Do a search for “Crazy Checks” and your blood pressure will go up a notch.

[ArmstedFragg]

These are the guys who are always telling us they’ll lower costs by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse. Every time I hear that I think, “and the reason you haven’t so far is...”