Medicare: The $60 Billion Fraud

September 5, 2010 5:00 PM

Medicare and Medicaid fraudsters are beating U.S. taxpayers out of an estimated $90 billion a year - $60 billion of it from Medicare - using a billing scam that is surprisingly easy to execute. Steve Kroft investigates Medicare.

Read Story: Medicare Fraud: A $60 Billion Crime

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by swan-flu October 23, 2010 7:36 PM EDT: did anyone else notice they called the suspicious fraud guy "conan" and later called him "tony"? haha.; Reply to this comment


by mc777777 October 15, 2010 4:50 PM EDT: Armenians always Armenians , I like to know how much they donated to Barbara Boxer or Glendale congressman Adam Schiff, Kollenberg of Fresno or Senetor Menendez who supports these criminal country which hosts Russian bases against the Turks who are NATO memeber and stunch US ally; Reply to this comment


by mc777777 October 15, 2010 4:42 PM EDT: This was not the only time this was going on for a long time here are the links

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/dec/08/news/mn-41634

http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/080404losangeles2.htm

and would you please investigate more

Glendale is a cess-pool with crimes from identity theft , car theft, date rape,
when individuals charged with a crime they just go back to Armenia

ask Glendale police and it will snow ball

you remember Armenian consul General in Los Angeles was selling fake documents to criminal Armenians to stay in US price $35.000 what hapaned with that?
here is the ABC News Clip

http://www.hyevideos.com/media/7868/Ex-Armenian_consul_arrested_in_doc_scam_-_BEVERLY_HILLS,_Calif._KABC_NEWS/; Reply to this comment


by Charlieaa September 17, 2010 12:27 PM EDT: I'm late commenting-the Medicare piece has been burning in me all week! C'mon, Steve.

What got me going was your statement that government can't efficiently run health care.

First, the private insurance waste just in billing dwarfs all the fraud you reported. See: http://www.pnhp.org/news/2004/january/national-health-insurance-could-save-286-billion-on-health-care-paperwork and that was 2004!! The current esrimates are that private medical insurance stole $1Tr in 2009!
Next, Newt Gingrich et al stated often their goal was to bankrupt Medicare, so they invented the whole Medicare Advantage scam (Look into THAT for a REAL expose.) and then they slid in numerous poison pills including some really sneaky small print in the drug bill. Finally, the two Medicare reps you interviewed were almost surely Bush appointees or at least following already promulgated Bush administration Policies and Procedures. (It's going to take a decade to clean up the mess.) See "Bush Appointees Burrowing In ": http://motherjones.com/politics/2008/10/bush-o-crats-burrow
They have a vested political interest in letting Medicare fraud go undetected!

Why Oh Why didn't you give at least a passing reference to this? The public now thinks that "We", "US" can't do the job-basic Medicare is working fine. Like other commenters, I agree we put $$ into rigorous auditing and enforcement. What the public needs is for you guys to do your homework and have the guts to report it no matter what the right-wingers think.; Reply to this comment


by I-READ-THE-BOOK September 17, 2010 10:20 AM EDT: If the Government doesn't steal the taxpayers' money someone will.
Progressives don't like other thieves bilking the system, that's the Progressives' self-appointed task. Not to worry, if our government continues to spend borrowed money the way they've done over the past 20 years, $60 billion will aoon not be enough to buy pinto beans for a week.; Reply to this comment


by jayroy007 September 16, 2010 4:22 PM EDT: It's a fact that black physicians are 5x more likely to be involved in this type of medicare and medicaid fraud.; Reply to this comment


by shane0830 September 15, 2010 11:06 PM EDT: I have been in the dental/medical field for over 20 years. I am not suprised to hear of this story. It was a matter of time. How long do you think the FBI new this was going on? It is not only Medicare, it is every insurance company that is being overcharged for items or procedures that are not being provided to the patient and this is without a ficticious store front. These are your every day doctors/dentist/therapists etc. I have seen how it is done and believe me they are very creative in doing so. All patients should look at the EOB (explanation of benefits) when they receive it in the mail, then call the insurance company and doctor if it is not correct. Eventually, the doctor will get caught. I find it appauling that this woman has been fighting 6 years to rectify what should be Medicares responsibility. Go to your Attorney General. Go to the news. Do something!
We wonder why there are no jobs out there and extremely high insurance premiums. Here you go. Most of these offices are not OSHA compliant either. I guess that's why I am unemployed. I refuse to work in an unethical environment that can cross contaminate these new strains of the flu, HIV, Hepititis, tuberculosis and your every day cold. (Cross contamination-creates sickness, more doctor visits, more medication, more time off, loss of jobs due to illness). In the end again. Higher costs of insurance premiums. I supposedly live in the insurance capital. Connecticut? I don't believe this to be true anymore. I do intend on meeting with the Attorney General reagarding these issues. Maybe I can be of some inside help. GODE BLESS AMERICA!! We cannot even get into Medicaid as most offices do not accept it. You have to go to clinics or hospitals with students working on you. Most individuals on Medicaid go right to the hopital when sick as this is the only way they will be seen quckly. Try looking at those charges?; Reply to this comment


by okshock September 13, 2010 11:56 PM EDT: Why has this continued for so long? I applaud 60 Minutes for shedding some light here, but had they dug deeper, I believe they would have found that many of the criminals are those involved with Medicare implementation or are connected in one way or the other. I believe the guy who said "It's stupid by design".; Reply to this comment


by LEOGATES September 13, 2010 8:27 PM EDT: We are prey of an ancient evil that over the millenniums has proven to be merciless and bloodthirsty, the evil continues thru generations on the false premise of a warped religion feeding on lusts of gold and power.
The Barbarians that invaded, robbed and murdered the far east and Europe for a thousand years are related by blood to the Rothschilds.; Reply to this comment


by f16poor September 13, 2010 9:07 AM EDT: I AGREE that the biggest problem here is: Government!

The reason that "government" doesn't do a good job in everything is because it keeps on raising Medicare taxes every single year but it is NOT accountable for MIS-spending it.

Name me one Medicare official that is held accountable for ALL the billions of dollars that have been so easily stolen?; Reply to this comment