Congressman John Campbell's Blog - Green Eyeshade Blog

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Posted by: John Campbell at 11:15 AM

According to a recent report from the Washington Post, medical suppliers have billed Medicare up to $92 million dollars for wheelchairs and various other pieces of home medical equipment. Unfortunately for the American taxpayer, those claims were filed using the names and identification numbers of deceased physicians.

Senate investigators estimate that between 384,730 and 572,238 fraudulent claims have been honored by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) since 2000.

It's no wonder that since 1990 Medicare has been a familiar sight on the GAO's "high risk" list.

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Trampling out the vintage writes:	Wednesday, July, 16, 2008 11:49 AM
The unfortunate fact.
I realize this seems like a lot of money, but when you have 1 million providers it is spread thin. That would be about $92 per office. I know this is all hypethetical, but throwing out 92 million is rather red herringish. I just heard about a dentist being hauled off to jail for fraudulent/accidental billing for $7000 over the past 10 years. That is about $700 per year. In an office that bills a million dollars, it is unlikely a Dr. would risk it all for such a small prize. Probably billing errors, however, this is the problem with government run health care... they really suck at running anything. Who is filing these fraudulent claims? Are they being filed by other providers? I bet all insurance companies have similar problems.
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moses writes:	Thursday, July, 17, 2008 12:20 PM
doctor's recourse
And people wonder why many doctors refuse to take any Medicare patients! 1. The reimburement is low 2. The gov't can be overzealous and destroy a doctor's practice, jail him and basically destroy his live. Want to fix something? GET GOV'T OUT OF HEALTH PROVIDING!
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Robert writes:	Thursday, July, 17, 2008 12:24 PM
it's sad
While honest doctors are forced by medicare and medicaid to bill for only 75% or so of the actual cost of services. In other words, medicare gives the bad doctors lots of money and the honest doctors not enough. Ask your local physician what he/she thinks about government health care.
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About John Campbell

John Campbell is a member of the House Financial Services Committee, and has taken a leadership role in addressing the country's top economic issues. Campbell serves as a member of the Joint Economic Committee, and House Committee on the Budget. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from UCLA and a Master's Degree in Taxation from USC.