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Medicare fraud plan working

April 18, 2012

Medicare fraud is being battled by a yearlong experiment with competitive bidding for wheelchairs, diabetic supplies and personal medical equipment, and the results appear to show significant savings of taxpayer dollars. [San Francisco Chronicle]

According to government officials, the effort already has saved more than $200 million for Medicare, and the nine-city experimental plan will now be expanded. Riverside was the only California city participating in the program.

The medical supply industry reacted with strong protests, threatening a shortage of equipment for patients and claiming an economic hardship for small suppliers.

Few patient complaints have been received regarding the new program.

In ten years, according to a government study, the plan can save more than $26 billion by eliminating one of the more wasteful features of Medicare — beneficiaries receiving unnecessary and excessive supplies and equipment.


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Hey- I am 5′ 2″ and 385 lbs, and disabled from eating too much and I want a free power chair! That does wheelies, too! I know my rights and I don’t want to pay a penny for it! It should be free since the government pays for it and if I don’t get one, it will be discrimination.


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And I’ll bet you want to keep the “gummint” out of your Medicare too!


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Isn’t it amazing how regulated capitalism works?


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if by regulated, you mean daily, then , yes


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Hey that was almost funny. Regulated capitalism = order, not chaos; equal opportunity for all to participate, protection for consumers against fraud and poisoned food stuffs, and of course, attempting to not allow monopolies to emerge. Is the oversight perfect? Of course not, but to try to allow capitalism without any oversight will get you something like Somalia. Corruption, nepotism and rampant cronyism; no thanks.


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Yes, Somalia, or melamine in Chinese baby food, or even Enron and AIG!


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Good one, Bobfsl !


These Randian personal utopians think Civilization is just a joke. They are so miserable in their own lives, they reason the only way to equalize it is to make everyone as miserable as themselves to give themselves some glimmer of solace.


Or, they just could be selfish airholes.


Their type would declare NO traffic laws or regulations, so that THEY could speed and never stop at intersections.

It is all about THEM !


Now, I am libertarian to the point that we all should be unmolested in our personal lives…as long as it is STRICTLY personal.

These objectivists are the BULLIES and criminal extortionists of society.

If anyone else gets hurt because of their carelessness…well, it was THEIR fault for being in the way.


Someone once observed that Ayn Rand’s warped opinion was,

“The world would be fine if I owned everything, and all the rest of you were my slaves”.


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For all of those who are “disciples’ of Ayn Rand and her “beliefs”, please remember that she ended up in her later years surviving on Social Security and Medicare; quite the “independent” type that didn’t believe in government intervention or assistance.


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Alan Greenspan remained a friend until the end.


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Well you do pay into Social Security and at the current rate most people will pay in more than they will receive back on average.


Point being is that Social Security isn’t quite a Gov. give away. It is for those who are collecting now, as they put in a smaller amount over their working career, then they are getting back now. Won’t be that way for future receiptents.


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You conservatives are so unintentionally funny sometimes; “Point being is that Social Security isn’t quite a Gov. give away.” Contrast that with all sorts of claims that Social Security needs “fixing”, SS is going “broke”, SS is going to run out of money, …. if you are a “true” Libertarian and make most of your money throughout your life “railing” against the “evils” of government, isn’t it ironic that you then use every available government program you can when you are older and not making enough money to support yourself?


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You mean like the system we have now?


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By the way, you sound as if you were scared to death of capitalism. The way you talk about it, it’s as if it were a congeries of crime.


Why would you assume that capitalism does not include the rule of law?


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I am in no way “scared to death of capitalism”; I do think that most people do not understand what is and is not capitalism. Most people think that engaging starting up a business is capitalism, or that supporting capitalism is as simple as shopping at a retailer. Capitalism is using capital (money) to earn money, like Mitt Romney does with his company Bain Capital. Capitalism also does not need a democracy in order to operate either, witness what China is doing. The Chinese government is following the model of Walmart in their using their great wealth to undercut pricing all over the globe to run as many businesses as possible out of business. No, I am not scared of capitalism, I just think that it needs serious regulation, oversight and enforcement with real teeth.


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A society needs laws. There is no question about that.


The question is, do we need the level of government interventionism IN THE ECONOMY that we have now?


I say, ABSOLUTELY NOT!


What we have is “crony collectivism.” That is what is causing our problems.


By the way, the government track record for punishing criminals in the financial sector is appalling, to say the least. They should be doing much more to stop the crime and corruption.


But there is a curious hesitation on their part, a lot of foot dragging, and lack of cooperation with whistle blowers.


Why is this?


Finally, I think that you are still confusing the “market” in capitalism with a free-for-all, no-holds-barred, orgy of economic crimes.


The market is just a mechanism in society to make life better, to allow people to exchange goods and services with each other in an efficient, organized way.


The issue of law enforcement’s need to punish criminal acts in the financial sector is not in question. In fact, I say that they are failing in this area. But this has NOTHING to do with capitalism.


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Not very well. That’s why Libertarians want the gov out of our hair.


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To bad Repuglithans didn’t believe in this “competition” when they “crammed down our throats” in the middle of the night Medicare Part D.


“Unlike other government-run health insurance programs, Medicare cannot negotiate drug prices with manufacturers. That ban was part of the 2003 legislation.”

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/editorials/time-for-real-not-symbolic-reform-on-medicare-1201423.html


Hey GOP, cut Medicare Part D first


Let’s look at the numbers first. When Part D was first proposed more than seven years ago, the Congressional Budget Office, estimated it would cost taxpayers about half a trillion dollars from 2004 to 2013.


Subtracting premiums paid by beneficiaries, the net cost would be about $400 billion

http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-money/2011/01/07/hey-gop-cut-medicare-part-d-first/


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Isn’t it amazing how capitalism works?


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Wow, “competetive bidding”, what a concept!


I applaud those that chose to see if capitalism has any merits, and indeed, it appears that it does.


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Sounds like it is working good to me.


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