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Medicare Costs are Skyrocketing – Are We Surprised?Date: August 5, 2008 |
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Even if you only read one newspaper a month, you have
probably noticed that those vaunted government programs of Social Security
and Medicare are having enormous financial problems. Because of the imminent retirement of the Baby Boomers
and no doubt inept management by the 100,000+ government employees who earn
their living managing your money,
Social Security will run out of money in 10 or 20 years (depending on who
wrote the article). Medicare billing too,
is escalating at an alarming rate. Medicare costs now exceed the budget of
most countries on the planet. The two programs continue to eat away at the
fabric of And now (supposedly) the American people are clamoring
for universal healthcare. I don’t know
about you, but I don’t know one rational informed soul who wants more
government control in our lives, regardless of the bellowing by the liberals about
the 46 million uninsured Americans. Why
is it never mentioned that a majority of the
uninsured are people in their twenties who rarely need health insurance? Why is it never
mentioned that any citizen (or illegal immigrant) can walk into any emergency
room and receive treatment at any time without paying a dime if they are
indigent? And worse yet, Uncle Sap will
pick up the tab. To compound the
problem, rarely does anyone watch the store for fraud and waste. Why should the public servants care? It’s not their money they’re asked to dole
out to Moe, Larry and Curly. Well fortunately, there is one small organization that does watch the store on occasion – the Government
Accountability Office (GAO). This is
the organization that exposes the huge fraud and waste in virtually every government program they have
ever audited. In a recent study of Medicare, the GAO revealed that
the government authorizes fictitious sellers of wheelchairs, prosthetics and
other medical supplies to submit replacement claims with non-existent or
limited review. At least 10% of the $10 billion in annual Medicare payments
for medical equipment are later deemed improper. The GAO investigation revealed the following facts –
not surprising to anyone knowledgable in government lethargy: o
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) approved two companies that the GAO deliberately set up as sham businesses. The GAO provided sketchy information and
false documents. The company had no clients or medical inventory. o
Once a fraudulent company is
approved, they can easily get a doctor’s ID code (authorizing the
expenditure) and begin submitting invoices. o
A report by the Health and Human
Services inspector general in December 2005 found that almost one-third of
the 1,581 medical suppliers it visited in South Florida did not have an
office at the business address they provided, even though they collectively
submitted claims for hundreds of millions of dollars – and that’s just in o
One o
A former secretary of fraudulent medical
supplier started her own fake company and submitted $1.5 million in claims
for urinary bags, canisters and air mattresses. Medicare paid her $372,000. If these were the findings in only If American business ran their companies like the
government runs government, every American business would be in bankruptcy. As we’ve said many times before, “there is
no accountability in government.” Source: Associated Press |
