Health Care Fraud Adds to YOUR Costs

Health care fraud is massive - and getting bigger. A few years ago, the federal put some effort into trying to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse. Clearly, there needs to be more accountability on the part of insurers, and Medicare, as well.

This Twitter story is dumbfounding - it's hard to believe that no one in government or the defrauded insurers bothered to take the LEGALLY MANDATED STEPS to stop it.

And, yes, they are legally mandated - I recently renewed my Medicaid/Medicare certifications (I'm a licensed agent), and part of that was passing a test on Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, that clearly put me on notice that I, personally - at risk of prosecution, fines, or loss of license - was obligated to report any suspicions that someone was abusing the system. Agents and brokers have to take that training/testing EVERY year, or they can't sell that type of insurance.

Here's some ideas for reducing the fraud. One is quite simple - Medicare has to verify a physician's credentials before issuing him the number that gives him the right to bill Medicare. Failure to follow that simple action is behind this felon's abuse of taxpayers' money.