Medicare Fraud Tops $60 Billion Per Year

Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein, Majikthise at 2:00 AM on June 16, 2008.

The Washington Post delves into the multi-billion dollar fraud problem afflicting Medicare.



The program's internal accounting safeguards are designed to detect unorthodox medical treatment and over billing. Out and out fraud? Not so much.



The Post's experts estimate that criminals bilk the system out of more than $60 billion per year. A lone Florida woman, a high school dropout, bilked the system out of $105 million, working from home on her laptop.



It's an interesting story on an important issue--but one thing is missing: Which firms hold contracts to maintain the internal accountability systems in Medicare? It's a safe bet that these functions were privatized long ago. Let's have some accountability from the firms that provide IT to the government. Which companies are preventing waste, fraud and abuse, and which ones are part of the problem?

Tagged as: fraud, waste, medicaid, wikileaks

Lindsay Beyerstein a New York journalist blogging at Majikthise.