Medicare bass ackward
60 minutes had a segment this past Sunday night about Medicare fraud and the ease of stealing from the government. If half the story was correct, the abuse and fraud is astounding. Drug dealers are turning to the government to make their living. As 60 minutes said, I am paraphrasing ” it is safer, no guns, no deaths, just good old fashion stealing from the government trough.”
There are very few people, with any common sense, that actually believe that the government can step into the health care arena and run it better than the professionals that have been running it for umpteen years. Granted the system is not perfect but it is the best system on earth today bar none.
Obama can’t be honest with the American people as he pushes his agenda for health care. Even with his statement that if the government cuts out the fraud in the medicare system it could pay for health care reform. The question is, why has your administration or any administrations before you tried to cut the fraud out of the system before now. Making that kind of declaration is silly and irresponsible on his part. Say anything, do anything to get your ideas passed. It really just goes to show you that programs of this magnitude are impossible to control once they are underway.
Steve Kroft, who hosted this segment spoke to Attorney General, Eric Holder. Below is the exchange they had about Medicare fraud
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have to understand this is a major fraud area. [...]
KROFT: Why do you think it’s been so attractive for the criminals?
HOLDER: Because I think it’s been pretty easy. I think that they have found a way in which they have been able to get pretty substantial amounts of money with not a huge amount of effort and at least until now, without the possibility of great detection.
KROFT: With much fewer risks.
HOLDER: Much fewer risks. You’ll see some of these people and they’ll say “You know there is not a chance that you are going to have some other drug dealer shooting at you.” The chances of being incarcerated were lower, the amount of time that you would spend in jail was smaller. All of which is different now.
This exchange sounds like a recipe for success for the criminals who know how to play the system. As stated in the episode by an individual who was caught, “you don’t have to be real smart, you just need to have some common sense to scam this system.
If the government takes over the health care sector in this country, I am sure they will wind up with a shortage of guards at the door and locks on the windows and no combinations for the safes.
Related posts:
- 60 Minutes Medicare Fraud Segment
- Medicare Expert: “Obamacare won’t hold down Cost”
- Unintended Consequences Bending the health care cost curve would lead to longer waiting times, fewer jobs, and worse Medicare
- $98 Billion Taxpayer Dollars Wasted by Government Agencies, Report Says
- Mayo Clinic in Arizona to Stop Treating Some Medicare Patients