Waiting for the official spin line

[bruce MN]

The company line for what it is that is going to be wrong with this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/17/medicare-fraud-_n_824737.html

I'm guessing it won;t be long until somebody in the world of wingertude will point out to us that these investigations have been targeted at opponents of Obamacare of something of that sort.   Or, then, something inside me makes me wonder if the investigators won't end up being chastised for possibly singling out Evangelical Christians.

I'd imagine that  if I were a medical professional and had been getting away with the bank like these folks have, I'd have opposed it too.

Lots of "funny business" hospital administration stuff has gone on  over the past few years in the rural midwest. I see they are going to open a Chicago branch.....hmmmm.

[4wd]

Fraud has been in medicare since it came into existance. The problem is the receipents of the care (patients) don't have any 'skin' in the game, so the billing can go on and on and no one is policing it, reporting it, or trying to stop it. Those patients who got the $110 tonail clippings probably enjoyed the feel of someone else working on their nails, and certaily liked the results. Why worry about the cost when UNCLE pays the bills. There needs to be some way to get patients involved in the paying process, then Doctor Fraud would be significantly reduced. Imagine that,  Uncle pays for back rubs too? Who says it isn't fun to get old?

[kraft-t]

Those podiatrist's clipping toe nails are a covered medicare expense in that many of them suffer from diabetes and a slip of the clippers can cause even the smallest injury that may well get infected.

I don't have my yoe nails done but i have been advised to do so. I have had a recent experience with a foot wound that became infected with MRSA (staph infection). Believe me that we have had one terrible episode with a lot of doctors scrambling to save my leg. Amputations are not cheap either for medicare.

The point being those folks don't have the toenails cut for the fun of it. They have it done because the doctor advises them to.

[GreaTOne_65]

Who says it isn't fun to get old? Becareful what you wish for, wd! Getting old is not that much fun. A bout with Bells Palsey, and Shingles, will quickly change your life, after that it's not so much fun.

[GreaTOne_65]

Wasn't it great, 30 years ago to sit back and laught at the old codgers, whine about thier achs and pains, Don? What's surprising is how fast we got there! I hope someday they will remember these converstations. Unless they drop dead in their tracks, chances are they will get to suffer the same maladys we're going through, I just wish I could be here to say I told you so, don't you?

[4wd]

Kraft-t, I am just having a real hard time trying to understand why the medicare system should pay for you old codger's toe nail trimmings and back rubs. I know you have expressed your displeasure with me using sect 179 of the IRS tax code to expense my new iron purchases, which I use to farm and hopefully improve profitability,----well, I am expressing my displeasure for your and others getting your toes clipped on my dime.  You old guys started it, throwing up the flags with my tax deductions, now I am just starting to throw up the flags on your gov perks thru medicare.  You need to get your skin in the medicare game to police it..

[Canuck_2]

Your post remind me of what an uncle of mine once said to me.

"They call them the golden years but they should have called them the rusty years"

He is now 85 and still living in a house with his wife, the above statement was made to me before his 70th birthday had come.

Many mornings I know how he felt.

[schnurrbart]

I'm sure that is the case many times but several years ago there was a dr. who was trimming toenails and charging medicare for "foot surgery".  Getting a pedicure shouldn't cost a thousand dollars!!

[Canuck_2]

---

@schnurrbart wrote:

I'm sure that is the case many times but several years ago there was a dr. who was trimming toenails and charging medicare for "foot surgery".  Getting a pedicure shouldn't cost a thousand dollars!!

---

A good audit system should have caught something like that I would think and it would abviously be fraud with legal repercussions for the 'dr.'

There was a doctor in Ontario that lost his license as well as other penalties becuase he charged health care for 'phantom' patients.

I think the health care payment recorded tripped him up because his income/payments from the system were higher than others so an investigation was launched and the fraud in his books was proved.

[schnurrbart]

They did catch him but not for awhile.  He was doing this in nursing homes where the patients didn't know night from day.