Govt: Medicare paid $47 billion in suspect claims

[get_involved]

Thank goodness the Democrats new health care plan won't have any waste or suspect claims.

Govt: Medicare paid $47 billion in suspect claims - Yahoo! News

 

[Emma]

“Fraud perpetrated against both public and private health plans costs between $72 and $220 billion annually, increasing the cost of medical care and health insurance and undermining public trust in our health care system,” said Kaufman.

Federal Bureau of Investigation - FINANCIAL CRIMES REPORT TO THE PUBLIC FISCAL YEAR 2007

All health care programs are subject to fraud; however, Medicare and Medicaid programs are the most visible. Estimates of fraudulent billings to health care programs, both public and private, are estimated between 3 and 10 percent of total health care expenditures.

 

[chanel]

What were the "evil insurance companies'" profits last year? 8 billiob? Yeah - socialized medicine is the way to go. Not.

 

[Emma]

What were the "evil insurance companies'" profits last year? 8 billiob? Yeah - socialized medicine is the way to go. Not.

Wonk Room » Health Insurance Industry Fudges Data To Downplay Its Astronomical Profits

Moreover, a report by Families USA found that “insurers in the individual market sometimes maintain medical loss ratios of only 60%, retaining 40% of premium dollars for administration, marketing and profit.” “For the 10 biggest insurers in the year 2006 (the year the insurers used for the 1 cent out of every dollar depiction above), profits were anywhere from 2 to 10 percent, or two to 10 pennies on the dollar. That’s two to 10 times as much as what the insurance industry group suggests in its illustrations.”

The top five earning insurance companies averaged profits of $1.56 billion in 2008 and reported spending an average of “more than 18 percent of their revenues on marketing, administration, and profits.” That year, CEO compensation for these companies ranged from $3 million to $24 million.”




Show me where the heads of any of the government run health services earn that much... then we'll talk.