Eliminate Medicare Fraud: Help Patients Instead
- by: Care2
- recipient: U.S. Congress
A recent government report indicates that an estimated $2.8 billion in federal Medicare spending in 2006 was improper - and auditors were told to ignore established policies that would have detected the waste.
A front-page New York Times article chronicling the report indicated that Medicare officials instructed auditors to ignore a key provision meant to ensure that medical equipment goes to actual patients. As a result, the auditors overlooked the fact that improper spending accounted for nearly one-third of medical equipment payments in 2006.
Improper Medicare spending hurts patients who really need it - and causes our government to fall more and more into debt. Tell Congress they must hold Medicare more accountable - so the service goes to people who really need it!
Dear [Senator or Representative],
I am horrified to read of the $2.8 billion in improper federal Medicare spending in 2006. Not only is this fiscal irresponsibility bad for government spending, it also harms the very people Medicare is trying to help - the elderly and those with disabilities who need health care the most. I urge you to hold Medicare more accountable, so that Medicare funds go to whom they are meant.
Inappropriate documentation plagued almost one-third of equipment spending in 2006 because AdvanceMed - the auditors hired by Medicare - were told to only examine medical sales invoices, not both invoices and doctor's records, which would have uncovered the fraud.
[Your comment here]
I look forward to hearing your plan of action to hold Medicare more accountable in delivering its services to people who really need them.
