Comments on: Up to One-Third of Health Spending Is ‘Waste,’ Former CMS Head Tells NYT

By: Betty Williams

Betty Williams — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:05:21 +0000

Medicare//tricareforlife, is one of the biggest frauds iin this nation. today. IT NEEDS TO STOP NOW. Doctor’s have become gangsters. Committinig robberiy without a weaponl. Bringing in billions of dollars for themselfves and/or the hospiitals they are associated with. I have had so many unnesccary tests, scans, and BOGUS proceedures, (I am wondering what compensation these so called medical doctors get?
Trusting patients are just that, not aware that they are just pawns used to renovate money for the organizations to which they are affiliated. Please, I am just an old lady, watching what is going on with my friends and myself.. Please someone bring this to the necessay officials to have it investigated. SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE. I’ll help if you let me know how.

By: newcountryman

newcountryman — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:04:39 +0000

You ain’t seen nothing yet.

By: Freedom

Freedom — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:47:09 +0000

ABC seems to have forgotten to mention this man also believes in rationing care. Hello Seniors, this is the kind of people this administration likes to run government healthcare.

By: mertens266

mertens266 — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:43:17 +0000

Nursing is a large part of the problem. My profession paints itself as some sort of moral compass when it is anything but. Time and again, the profession has chosen to pay full time benefits to part time workers, pads the profession with useless credentials like ‘therapeutic touch’ while scimping on the true hands on people, nurses aides, and spends 90% of its management time trying to invent a new way to chart the same information ten times longer. The newest fad is to video record routine prodcedures like IV placement. It’s a real time waster that serves absolutely no benefit to anyone. My father in law was a given a video of his shoulder surgery. For what? It’s useless. Not even a malpractice lawyer would want this crap in his client’s file since it shows nothing, is heavily edited and is something you could get off of YouTube if really want to know something about the procedure.

By: Dr Roger Malebranche

Dr Roger Malebranche — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:40:52 +0000

I am a retired general surgeon and I wonder about the future of American medicine and the future of poor and middle class American patients. Basically our medical care is a 4 tiers system. 1) The moneyed people and the political elite get the best care in the world. 2) The middle level politicians, government employees ( state and federal ), the people with powerful unions and lobbies (teachers, policemen,firemen) etc… are not far behind. 3) The small business people, self employees, retired who through their life paid for their own medical insurance, are caught in the web. They have to tighten their belts and some have to choose between food, heat, shelter or medical care. 4) The fourth tier has nothing or nearly nothing. Medicaid and Medicare are trying to fill the gaps but the unneccessary paperwork, the waste, fraud are killing those well intentioned systems. Medicine has become a money game and the patients are pawns . I would guess that only 25 cts of every dollar spent on medical care actually benefits the American public. I am 79 and paid into Social security and Medicare all my working years. My security check could not cover half of my medical expenses. Some drastic steps need to be taken. Obamacare is not pulling the plug on the sick and elderly American. The pharmaceutical industry, the HMOs and other third parties payers, the makers of surgical/orthopedic gadgets, that entire money fueled machinery designed to suck the blood of old and sick Americans is doing that.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:33:26 +0000

“Large private insurance companies limit payment for medical and hospital services; Medicare and Medicaid pay whatever is billed” – rohnertpark1

Rohnertpar 1 – that statment is simply not true at all. If you care to do a little research, you will find that Medicare and Medicaid limit their payments. The hospital can bill whatever it wants, but Medicare and Medicaid both only pay the rate that Medicare and Medicaid set. Medicaid typically pays under cost while Medicare is usually right around cost. (Google Medicare Cost Report for a point of reference). Private insurance companies negiotiate rates with hopsitals and physicians, they do not limit their costs. Typically they negotiate some percentage off of gross charges…. Medicare and Medicaid have the best (lowest) overhead rates at somewhere around 3% of thier funding used for administrative costs withteh rest used for patient care. Private insurance companies are closer to 15-18% used for administrative expenses….. Profitable for a hospital is usually, at Best… 4%. Some do better, some do worse. the majority of hospitals are Tax-Exempt (aka non-profit), which means that any profits made are used to upgrade facilities, start new services, or provide community benefits. The Tax-Exemption means that they are not allowed to distribute the profits to shareholders or any individials. I don’t think it’s fair to accuse hospitals of gouging when most are at best a 4% bottom line or worse. If you want to talk about real gouging, look at cell phone companies and cable companies… huge increases year after year, usually double digit profitability, yet no one is up in arms about that…

By: jimmy

jimmy — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:26:22 +0000

Time to cut the seniors off.

By: NoSpin1600

NoSpin1600 — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:11:23 +0000

Lies, lies lies… There is no such thing as government wasting money.. Sorry temporarily lost my mind. Does this story surprise anyone?

By: adam

adam — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:10:35 +0000

He also forgets to mention the amount of liability a doctor has when dealing with a patient. A doctor will do everything in his/her power to keep from being sued for a mistake, as such they will do every type diagnosis measure before committing to surgery.

By: rohnertpark1

rohnertpark1 — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:09:53 +0000

One of the top reasons for Medicare and Medicaid cost increases is exactly what Dr. Berwick identified. Waste and fraud are the key reasons for the current predicament of Medicare and Medicaid. The Republican’s ‘quick fix’ is to simply reduce or eliminate public healtcare funding. This is not the logical answer. Stricter oversight can prevent overcharging and fraud. Another methodology which should be investigated is public assistance to hospitals that treat the uninsured. While federal law requires all emergency situations to be handled until a patient’s health is ‘stabilized,’ hospitals are not paid for these emergency services of uninsured persons. Therefore, to make up for lost income, they gouge Medicare and Medicaid to remain profitable. Large private insurance companies limit payment for medical and hospital services; Medicare and Medicaid pay whatever is billed. With the same type of oversight as private insurance companies, payment under Medicaid and Medicare will be significantly reduced.