Medicare Fraud

[leora]

You always hear that there's a lot of fraud in the medicare program, and I wondered, what is that concept based on? Is that true? So, I decided to do some quick research. I found this neat little page by the IRS with examples of healthcare fraud investigations for 2010 linkSome things you'll notice is that a lot of the examples involve fraud on the

Comments

[beth_leonard]

*nod

[akiko]

Because, clearly, the invisible hand in its benevolent wisdom will make it better.

[leora]

Well, the problem with private insurance is that while it's cheaper, then the patient gets screwed over. Medicare is more expensive, but it's better for actually getting help to people in medical need. I'd rather see some fraud and abuse and fewer people having to let their medical emergencies not get handled and having medical problems escalate because they can't afford to handle them even with private insurance.

But really, I think insurance should be run as non-profit charities. The fact that insurance companies are companies run for a profit is, I think, something fundamentally wrong with our society. At least for vital insurance services, as opposed to getting special extra things insured, which is fine to have be a luxury.

[beth_leonard]

I'd rather see some fraud and abuseBut why do we have to have the fraud and abuse? Why won't the government devote a reasonable portion of it's budget to detecting fraud and abuse