"10 percent of all medical spending in the U.S. is fraudulent"

[WhiskeyGirl]

Medicare fraudsters in NM stole elderly New Yorker’s identity
By Bryant Furlow 6/1/10 12:28 PM Digg Tweet

The identity of an elderly New Yorker, June Smith, was used for fraudulent Medicare claims in New Mexico, Florida, California and Arizona, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

Several of the exams and tests for which the government was billed defied common sense. Smith, a 72-year-old woman, supposedly received up to $50,000 worth of exams, including a pregnancy test, semen analysis and prostate cancer tests.

Medicaid and Medicare fraud robs the federal health care system of billions of dollars each year, according to the FBI and U.S. Government Accountability Office — making it one of the nation’s most profitable crimes.

Nobody is sure exactly how much is stolen; the FBI estimates that up to 10 percent of all medical spending in the U.S. is fraudulent, making it an appealing target of potential savings.

But GAO investigators concluded in 2006 that curbing fraud was not a priority under the Bush administration. Instead, the administration cut off Medicaid cancer chemotherapy reimbursements for illegal — and recent documented, or legal — immigrants.

Citing an estimated $54 billion worth of improper payments last year, Obama administration announced in March an anti-fraud push for Medicaid and Medicare that it hopes will recoup more than $2 billion over the next three years.

Hmmm...$54 billion in improper payments...and some are worried about getting a slice of BP's $6 billion profit...

Why isn't Obama going after the 10%?  Putting those fraudsters in jail?  Recovering teh $54 billion?

more here - http://newmexicoindependent.com/55869/medicare-fraudsters-in-nm-stole-elderly-new-yorkers-identity

Maybe Obama will recover like 5% of BP's $6 billion in profits?  A hard day's work?

[Edward]

75%

jmho