How’s This For A Kick In The Teeth?
The storyline:
ALBANY, N.Y. Auditors say the state Medicaid program may have overpaid $2.9 million for services like teeth cleaning for toothless patients. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says auditors found the state health department’s Medicaid claims processing system lacks necessary controls.
Auditors identified almost 22,000 questionable services for about 6,500 patients with dentures during the five-year period ending June 30, 2008. That included almost 1,500 dentists who billed Medicaid $863,000 for cleanings, fillings, extractions and X-rays for about 5,000 patients with full dentures.
The health department says it will review the claims, recover overpayments and has begun developing a system to more accurately identify dental procedures in claim processing.
Michael’s POV:
Fraud OF the Government is probably almost as big as fraud IN the Government. Take this story and the numbers and look at it on paper: $2.9 MILLION dollars in overpayments from the Government funded Medicaid program. Now times that by 50 States and probably 10 other State run programs in each of the states and that is probably closer to the number nationwide that the Government is shelling out for no reason, at taxpayer expense.
Throw in the amount of money, again using all the states, that the Government is shelling out for the illegal alien population in this Country for a whole range of medical, social & educational services and perhaps fixing problems like this will help restore the Country back to prosperity.
So, what your’re saying is we need laws with more teeth in them.
Seriously, though. Once Obama & Co. take over the health care sysytem then we won’t have these problems anymore, Michael. All will be well. (hehe)
March 26th, 2009 at 10:16 amThere is no honest way to run a dishonest system.
When need is the standard, fraud is inevitable. Maybe those toothless people needed their self-esteem assauged – or maybe the dentists needed yachts. Running a system based on “need” is impossible: the best people are put at the mercy of the cheats, in the same way and for the same reason that pacifists make us vulnerable to the first thug who decides to become a criminal.
There is no way to reform a system that uses need as its standard. The system itself must be rejected and replaced with one based on self-interest and productivity.
Those in need are real, and some of their needs are real. But they must be dealt with througgh voluntary charity. Any other system inexorably leads to fraud, and worse when the government inevitably has to institute controls to try to prevent the fraud.
March 26th, 2009 at 10:23 amgood site, good work, thanks!!!
September 14th, 2009 at 8:04 am