Medicare Fraud That Will Make You Puke

[Crosscheck]

I saw this on 60 Minutes last night. When the title was Medicare Fraud I just assumed it was docs over billing. But this is beyond what I had imagined was happening in our country. It reports that medicare fraud has replaced cocaine as the number one profittable criminal activity in Miami.
Forget your partisan whining for a moment. This isn't due to Bush or Obama.

This just goes to show you how we are being screwed by not Islamic terrorists but by good old Americans.

I was shell shocked watching this at how easy this crime was.
The $60 Billion Fraud - 60 Minutes - CBS News

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

Oh, so THIS is why we can't legalize drugs -- the profit margin will drop out, and criminals will turn to insurance fraud to make up the difference!

Fight Fraud -- "Drink" Coke!

:lol:


TED,
Couldn't resist.

 

[VanceMack]

I saw this on 60 Minutes last night. When the title was Medicare Fraud I just assumed it was docs over billing. But this is beyond what I had imagined was happening in our country. It reports that medicare fraud has replaced cocaine as the number one profittable criminal activity in Miami.
Forget your partisan whining for a moment. This isn't due to Bush or Obama.

This just goes to show you how we are being screwed by not Islamic terrorists but by good old Americans.

I was shell shocked watching this at how easy this crime was.
The $60 Billion Fraud - 60 Minutes - CBS News

This has been going on for decades. Organized crime became involved in the early 90s. The system is so big that it has no real set of checks and balances.

Another area not discussed here that is exploited legally is the contract providers for Medicare services. Once a contract is awarded, there is no real check on 'administrative' costs vs care provided.

EDIT: We cant be too harsh on organized crime or medicare fraud...Lawyers have been doing this with accident victims forever.

 

[Cold Highway]

Just another reason why to get entitlements out of the federal level, if not nuked all together.

 

[Crosscheck]

Just another reason why to get entitlements out of the federal level, if not nuked all together.

Isn't corruption a part of every federal spending? Even the sacred cow the military ?

We are a country of criminals it seems.

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

Ah, the wonders of capitalism. :lol:

 

[VanceMack]

Ah, the wonders of capitalism. :lol:

Because NO corruption occurs in socialist and communist societies...:lamo

 

[Spartacus FPV]

Ah, the wonders of capitalism. :lol:

This is a government SOCIAL program, what at all does this have to do with capitalism?

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

This is all about market forces -- cocaine becomes less profitable than Medicare fraud, so you find criminals shifting their attention from one to the other.

If that isn't capitalism, then there is no such thing.

 

[MaggieD]

Ah, the wonders of capitalism. :lol:

Yes! And the wonders of capitalism can solve most this kind of abuse. Instead of paying government investigators $100K a year, pay them that plus 5% of every scheme they uncover. It'd be gone inside two years.

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

Yes! And the wonders of capitalism can solve most this kind of abuse. Instead of paying government investigators $100K a year, pay them that plus 5% of every scheme they uncover. It'd be gone inside two years.

Medicare already has a rewards program, but maybe a flat 5% would provide the appropriate percentage.

The problem is that, from where I'm sitting, it isn't necessarily in the best interest of a Medicare staffer to reduce Medicare overall expenditures, since spending less typically means you get less the following year -- at least that's how I understand how high-level corporate and government budgeting works.

 

[MaggieD]

Medicare already has a rewards program, but maybe a flat 5% would provide the appropriate percentage.

The problem is that, from where I'm sitting, it isn't necessarily in the best interest of a Medicare staffer to reduce Medicare overall expenditures, since spending less typically means you get less the following year -- at least that's how I understand how high-level corporate and government budgeting works.

That's how I understand departmental budgeting works, too. But I'm talking about uncovering fraud. Maybe I'm off topic.

 

[liblady]

Yes! And the wonders of capitalism can solve most this kind of abuse. Instead of paying government investigators $100K a year, pay them that plus 5% of every scheme they uncover. It'd be gone inside two years.

that's a great idea.

 

[Kal'Stang]

I saw this on 60 Minutes last night. When the title was Medicare Fraud I just assumed it was docs over billing. But this is beyond what I had imagined was happening in our country. It reports that medicare fraud has replaced cocaine as the number one profittable criminal activity in Miami.
Forget your partisan whining for a moment. This isn't due to Bush or Obama.

This just goes to show you how we are being screwed by not Islamic terrorists but by good old Americans.

I was shell shocked watching this at how easy this crime was.
The $60 Billion Fraud - 60 Minutes - CBS News

I would have to say that we're getting screwed six ways to Sunday from both. Sorry but Islamic terrorists are bad also.

 

[VanceMack]

Yes! And the wonders of capitalism can solve most this kind of abuse. Instead of paying government investigators $100K a year, pay them that plus 5% of every scheme they uncover. It'd be gone inside two years.

Ive made that offer with the military. Keep the $100k. Pay me 2% of everything I save...I get to review all spending. Id retire in 2 years.

 

[Objective Voice]

What I find just as disturbing as the fraud itself are the number of people who would rather politicize this issue than acknowledge the corruption, i.e., it's socialize medicine, gov't can't run anything as well as the private sector, etc.

Before health care reform lesgistlation was passed, the President said the Medicare fraud was a big problem and that the cost of Medicare payouts was nearly 1/4 of our national budget annually. Seems to me people should be advocating to strengthen anti-Medicare fraud measures and get behind law enforcement rather than be so glib about the system. As working-class Americans, we're all paying into this system. I'd hate to know it's still just as corrupt when my time comes to use it.

 

[American]

So a govt healthcare program is corrupt; who'd a thunk?

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

That's how I understand departmental budgeting works, too. But I'm talking about uncovering fraud. Maybe I'm off topic.

Yeah, I know what you meant, but when you get right down to it fraud is in and of itself an expense. Since it expends part of the budget, and part of defending your budget is making sure it gets spent . . .

 

[UtahBill]

The CBS ariticle is a rerun....old news....but still worth repeating.
My wife's doctor billed her insurance for something, and the insurance paid half again more than was billed. We asked why, insurance company said for the procedure in question, that is what they pay....
See, even insurance companies are screwing us. If they are willing to pay the doctors more than they ask, they must be charging us too much for the insurance....

 

[Vader]

The CBS ariticle is a rerun....old news....but still worth repeating.
My wife's doctor billed her insurance for something, and the insurance paid half again more than was billed. We asked why, insurance company said for the procedure in question, that is what they pay....
See, even insurance companies are screwing us. If they are willing to pay the doctors more than they ask, they must be charging us too much for the insurance....

WHich is why we need to make laws the cut the balls off of doctors and insurance companies.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

What I find just as disturbing as the fraud itself are the number of people who would rather politicize this issue than acknowledge the corruption, i.e., it's socialize medicine, gov't can't run anything as well as the private sector, etc.

Before health care reform lesgistlation was passed, the President said the Medicare fraud was a big problem and that the cost of Medicare payouts was nearly 1/4 of our national budget annually. Seems to me people should be advocating to strengthen anti-Medicare fraud measures and get behind law enforcement rather than be so glib about the system. As working-class Americans, we're all paying into this system. I'd hate to know it's still just as corrupt when my time comes to use it.

Anti fraud measures that are effective, would require an even larger bureaucracy.

It's wasteful to implement super massive government programs.
They become uncontrollable.

 

[UtahBill]

Anti fraud measures that are effective, would require an even larger bureaucracy.

It's wasteful to implement super massive government programs.
They become uncontrollable.

So, we let the criminals operate freely? I guess we could do that, it is a form of capitalism, right?
An opportunity presents itself, and an entrepeneur takes advantage of that opportunity. yeah, that's the ticket, and the American way....:shock:

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

So, we let the criminals operate freely? I guess we could do that, it is a form of capitalism, right?
An opportunity presents itself, and an entrepeneur takes advantage of that opportunity. yeah, that's the ticket, and the American way....:shock:

That's not what I'm getting at.
Creating one wasteful bureaucracy to fix another wasteful bureaucracy, is not a good solution.

Best thing is to fulfill our obligations to current/about to retire seniors and end Medicare after that.

 

[Crosscheck]

That's not what I'm getting at.
Creating one wasteful bureaucracy to fix another wasteful bureaucracy, is not a good solution.

Best thing is to fulfill our obligations to current/about to retire seniors and end Medicare after that.

That may just be too simplified of a solution. If we find a federal spending that has corruption then we would end all federal spending programs even defense spending by that measure.

In the case of the Medicare fraud in which it is estimated at $60 billion perhaps step outside the box and give rewards to crimestoppers in the figure of couple hundred thousand. Forget rewards of $1000 to $20,000 and make it large enough someone would turn in their mother.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

That may just be too simplified of a solution. If we find a federal spending that has corruption then we would end all federal spending programs even defense spending by that measure.

In the case of the Medicare fraud in which it is estimated at $60 billion perhaps step outside the box and give rewards to crimestoppers in the figure of couple hundred thousand. Forget rewards of $1000 to $20,000 and make it large enough someone would turn in their mother.

I agree with ending a lot of defense spending, we currently waste billions of dollars to employ people just to secure jobs for congress members.

With Medicare, I completely disagree with the premise of the program and the assumptions of what its existence does.
If it were not to exist, elderly people would not be dying in the streets and they would still be able to afford necessary medical care.

We have to be realistic with the goals of the program and when you look at the cost/benefit of things, it makes no logical sense to pay for life extension of elderly people, from the public purse.
That's the bitter pill to swallow.