In the United States, Medicare fraud is a general term that refers to an individual or corporation that seeks to collect Medicare health care reimbursement under false pretenses. There are many different types of Medicare fraud, all of which have the same goal: to collect money from the Medicare program illegitimately.
The total amount of Medicare fraud is difficult to track, because not all fraud is detected and not all suspicious claims turn out to be fraudulent. According to the Office of Management and Budget, Medicare "improper payments" were $47.9 billion in 2010, but some of these payments later turned out to be valid. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that total Medicare spending was $528 billion in 2010.
The Medicare program is a target for fraud because it is based on the "honor system" of billing. It was originally set-up to help honest doctors who helped the needy with medical services.
Read more about Medicare Fraud: Types of Medicare Fraud, Columbia/HCA Fraud Case, Law Enforcement and Prosecution, Medicare Fraud Reporting By Whistleblowers, 2010 Medicare Fraud Strike Task Force Charges, 2011 Medicare Fraud Strike Task Force Charges, 2012 Medicare Fraud Strike Task Force Charges, Organized Crime
Famous quotes containing the word fraud:
“There exists in a great part of the Northern people a gloomy diffidence in the moral character of the government. On the broaching of this question, as general expression of despondency, of disbelief that any good will accrue from a remonstrance on an act of fraud and robbery, appeared in those men to whom we naturally turn for aid and counsel. Will the American government steal? Will it lie? Will it kill?—We ask triumphantly.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)