Originally published April 15 2014
Release of Medicare data reveals massive fraud, drug company collusion and bilking of taxpayers
by L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
(NaturalNews) Do you know what happens to your earnings after they are swept up and tossed into the Medicare black hole?
A massive, new Medicare data release has uncovered a multimillion-dollar scandal that has been growing through the years. Consumer groups have been pressuring the government to release recent Medicare data and were taken aback when the numbers were finally unveiled.
Medicare system being exposed for what it really is
The data release reveals that government intervention in the marketplace has created a cursed system of fraud, a cycle of inefficiency and a dependency that has catered to special interests governing the medical establishment. Furthermore, the data release shows that the fraudulent Medicare system has been pressuring doctors to fraud taxpayers exponentially, as drug companies grow richer.
The government program, designed to provide health insurance for senior citizens, is really just a paradigm of social control, robbing citizens as they go through life and then enslaving them to a system of abusive medicine as they age.
As the country's number one purchaser of healthcare services, Medicare ultimately shells out at least $77 billion to healthcare providers in a one-year time period -- according to the new 2012 data release. It's now apparent that this long-standing program has ballooned the cost of healthcare through the years, propping up a health insurance industry as the only answer to cover the bloated costs. Now the whole controlled medical system is so inefficient that even health insurance has become unaffordable for millions. But, believe it or not, some think that more government intervention and mandates is the answer, hence the formation of Obamacare and forced health insurance. This will not only perpetuate the problem, but also prop up drug companies as the greatest dictators in the history of mankind.
One doctor raked in $20.8 million from Medicare in 2012 alone
To understand the extent of this fraudulent waste, go no further than Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist who raked in $20.8 million from Medicare in 2012 alone. Dr. Melgen isn't the only one bathing in the fraud of this crony government program. Medicare dished out over $1 million to almost 4,000 doctors in 2012, according to the new data release analyzed by The Washington Post.
Jonathan Blum, principal deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is calling on the public for help in identifying fraud. He says, "The program is funded by and large by taxpayer dollars. The public has a right to know what it is paying for. We know there is fraud in the system. We are asking for the public's help to check, to find waste, and to find potential fraud."
Getting to the root of the problem
But picking through the large data sets to find fraudulent intent is nearly impossible and doesn't address the root cause of the problem. The root cause of the problem lies in the idea itself -- dependency on government management of healthcare and government management of the fruits of the people's labor.
The database release, which includes over 10 million lines of data, is a perfect example of government ravaging the liberties and economic freedoms of the people. It shows a government system poorly adopted, lacking accountability and bloated beyond measure. The program is so out of control that it practically camouflages waste, inefficiency and fraud. The data shows how many services physicians are providing, "but you don't know how large their practices are, and you don't know how specialized they are toward Medicare patients," said Urban Institute senior Stephen Zuckerman in an interview with CBS.
Dr. Melgen, the nation's leading Medicare collector, stated to CBS in legal papers that the billings are made "in conformity with Medicare rules."
Employing a staff of 30 people, operating out of four separate offices, Dr. Melgen, like other doctors, knows how to pull in as much money as possible from the Medicare program. In one instance, he billed Medicare $11.8 million for injections of a drug used to treat macular degeneration.
The Medicare system allows drug companies to control healthcare, bilking taxpayers in the process
But maybe the blame shouldn't fall primarily on doctors. After reviewing the cost of the drugs, it seems that the drug companies have the upper hand in the system. Drug companies charge bloated sums for their drugs because they know doctors lean on them for the treatments and are entitled to large amounts of Medicare money. Dr. Melgen's attorney said, "The facts are that doctors receive six percent above what they pay for drugs, the amount billed by physicians is set by law, and drug companies set the price of drugs, not doctors."
So in the end, it's the drug companies dictating the cost, and the government Medicare program is the driving system which allows this cursed cycle to bloat. The doctors are really just the middle men, abiding by the system that they were brought up in and taught into. Still, the public can expect fraud investigators and the media to pen the fault on doctors in the years ahead, as the root system continues down its treacherous road, keeping its crooked wheels a-turning.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.cbsnews.com
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