Friday, July 16, 2010
A Good Start, or Is it?
While the arrest of Medicare fraud rings is a good start, the government is only saving a little bit of money via deterrence. If we want real healthcare savings, the (redacted due to loss of free speech) industries will have to be overhauled. (This will have to happen unless the majority of us don't want healthcare because we are on an unsustainable trajectory.) More doctors will have to be produced by the country's medical schools. The current healthcare "reform" law only extended coverage. It did not contain costs or reduce them. So in that respect, the current healthcare reform legislation is a failure. The above news article is analogous to the FBI arresting individuals for mortgage fraud when 80% of mortgage fraud is committed by the mortgage bankers through their institutions. Only 20% of mortgage fraud is committed by individuals. Are the dynamics similar for Medicare fraud, or are they different? Between 3-10% of Medicare payments are fraudulent and performed by healthcare providers, but the reason for such a practice is for the benefit of the patient according to Wikipedia. Is the majority of Medicare fraud committed by companies rather than individuals? It is certainly easier to commit fraud as the officer of a company. It gives one cover they would not have as an individual thief.
Labels: healthcare fraud
