Actually, if she thinks that fraud and waste will solve the problem, she can’t tell the difference between “m” and “b”. Millions in fraud isn’t going to solve a problem that will be in billions. Medicare could be tighter, but that costs money and raises overhead. Too much emphasis yields diminishing returns, which is another reason insurance companies give for not pursuing fraud.

It would do my heart good to see them all applying for food stamps, Jill.

Actually, Medicare has been behind a number of investigations and convictions for fraud. They actually pursue people who defraud them, while insurance companies don’t. Seemingly believing that if they go after fraud cases it will hurt their image and stock prices, they go after their customers but not the scam artists.

One of the news sites had a report on the absurd costs seen on hospital bills, and the insurance companies were paying without complaint obvious mistakes on the bill. Things like $1000 for a toothbrush, instead of the normal, but still absurd price of $10.00. A lot things were like that, missing decimal points.

The big savings in Medicare are in Parts C [Medicare Advantage] and Part D [drug coverage]. They both are industry giveaways and need attention. If you eliminate Part C and move Part D to the Tricare plan, everyone would save money – except the HMOs who infest Part C and big pharma that rakes it in from Part D.