January 08, 2008

Feds Plan Anti-Fraud Push As Medicare Spending Rises

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is cracking down on medical equipment suppliers it says bilk taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Medicare officials estimate suppliers have fraudulently billed the government upwards of $300 million in Los Angeles County alone, the Los Angeles Times reports. The problem is most acute in urban areas in Southern California and South Florida where large numbers of elderly Medicare recipients are concentrated, the government says.

The new rules require equipment suppliers to be accredited by the government and to set prices through a bidding process. The Times reports that some medical equipment suppliers are threatening to opt out of Medicare because they believe the rules are too harsh.

Meanwhile, a new government report finds that the new Medicare prescription drug plan increased the program's spending by 18.7 percent in 2006. The report, published in the journal Health Affairs, is not available for free, but according to a U.S. News account, Medicare spending in 2006 rose to $401.3 billion, up from $338 billion the previous year.

On the other hand, Medicaid spending dropped slightly, from $313.5 billion in 2005 to $310.6 billion in 2006 -- the first decline since 1965, U.S. News reports. Cathy Cowan, an economist in the National Health Statistics Group at the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, attributed the fall-off to people eligible for both programs being moved to Medicare.

Posted at 1:10 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Economy, Health
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