Medicaid Fraud in America Uncovering W hellip 
Chris Zurcher
Prof. Floyd
ENG 101-C10
Medicaid Fraud in America: Uncovering Wasteful Spending in Healthcare In 2012, the State of South Carolina spent $4.8 billion on the Medicaid program. At the end of that fiscal year, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General reported that nationwide only $1.4 billion had been recovered in fraudulent cases. “The US spends more than $2 trillion on healthcare annually. At least 3% of that spending-or $68 billion-is lost to fraud each year. Fraud accounts for 19 percent of the $600 billion to $800 billion in wasteful spending in the US healthcare system annually.” (Office of Inspector) No wonder our nation is in an economic breakdown in the health insurance market. The solution to Medicaid fraud may be as simple as spending more money on investigations and less time approving those who are just too lazy to work. “Medicaid fraud occurs when a Medicaid provider knowingly makes a false or misleading statement or representation for use in obtaining reimbursement from the Medicaid program”. (Medicaid Fraud) Medicaid fraud is nothing new to South Carolina. There has been Medicaid fraud since the start of the Medicaid program on July 30th 1965. All across the state, in every hospital and doctor’s office, patients are being seen using Medicaid insurance cards that have no right to be using these cards. It’s everywhere, and these people have gotten on the program by filling out their paperwork incorrectly and turning it into the correct government office with all the check marks in the right places. The problem is, some of these people are not sick and are perfectly able to work, just don’t wish to do so. Let’s make it fair and only put the people that need to be on Medicaid on Medicaid and quit paying for the lazy to go from hospital to hospital when they have a common cold. “The Medicaid program provides health benefits to low-income families who either have no medical insurance or have
Prof. Floyd
ENG 101-C10
Medicaid Fraud in America: Uncovering Wasteful Spending in Healthcare In 2012, the State of South Carolina spent $4.8 billion on the Medicaid program. At the end of that fiscal year, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General reported that nationwide only $1.4 billion had been recovered in fraudulent cases. “The US spends more than $2 trillion on healthcare annually. At least 3% of that spending-or $68 billion-is lost to fraud each year. Fraud accounts for 19 percent of the $600 billion to $800 billion in wasteful spending in the US healthcare system annually.” (Office of Inspector) No wonder our nation is in an economic breakdown in the health insurance market. The solution to Medicaid fraud may be as simple as spending more money on investigations and less time approving those who are just too lazy to work. “Medicaid fraud occurs when a Medicaid provider knowingly makes a false or misleading statement or representation for use in obtaining reimbursement from the Medicaid program”. (Medicaid Fraud) Medicaid fraud is nothing new to South Carolina. There has been Medicaid fraud since the start of the Medicaid program on July 30th 1965. All across the state, in every hospital and doctor’s office, patients are being seen using Medicaid insurance cards that have no right to be using these cards. It’s everywhere, and these people have gotten on the program by filling out their paperwork incorrectly and turning it into the correct government office with all the check marks in the right places. The problem is, some of these people are not sick and are perfectly able to work, just don’t wish to do so. Let’s make it fair and only put the people that need to be on Medicaid on Medicaid and quit paying for the lazy to go from hospital to hospital when they have a common cold. “The Medicaid program provides health benefits to low-income families who either have no medical insurance or have
Cited: Fraud Statistics. Coalition against Insurance Fraud, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <http://www.insurancefraud.org/statistics.htm>. How to Qualify for Medicaid. Healthcare.gov, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. <https://www.healthcare.gov/medicaid-chip/getting-medicaid-chip/>. How to Report Fraud. cms.gov, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. <http://www.cms.gov/ Medicare-Medicaid-Coordination/Fraud-Prevention/FraudAbuseforConsumers/