Forget about drug-dealing, Medicare fraud is becoming America’s new get rich quick scheme of choice. Why? Because it’s easy money, with little threat of prosecution. An article in the Broward Palm Beach New Times explains the crime is so widespread, prosecutors don’t even bother going after anyone unless they’ve stolen $500,000 or more.
Given how often such blatant thievery goes undetected, no one’s sure how much fraud there really is. Conservative estimates place the bill at $100 billion annually. The more adventurous peg the figure closer to $300 billion — three times what the feds spend on education. It has left federal health care little more than an unlocked home, where street punks and gangsters, doctors, and even states walk right in and help themselves to whatever’s inside.
Click here to read the New Times article.
