Originally published August 4 2005
Medicaid fraud is the reason for New York's high bill
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
New York spends more on Medicaid than any other sate -- around $45 billion a year -- but there is no reflection of this in the health of the state's poor, because as much as $18 billion a year of that money may be a result of fraud and abuse, The New York Times reports.
In launching a series on the subject yesterday, the Gray Lady seems to have answered a question that has puzzled students of government in New York for decades: How does Albany, by every objective measure, manage to spend billions more on health care for the poor than any other state without any comparative positive effect on poor people's health.
Surely it couldn't have been easy for the left-leaning Times to take on a liberal icon like Medicaid.
Nonetheless, yesterday's 5,510-word piece sheds light on how crooks --- "scores" of medical practitioners, nursing-home operators, ambulette companies, even school districts --- are milking the system.
Pataki, state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and --- perhaps most significantly --- Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who has specific statutory oversight responsibilities for Medicaid.
Yet, two other states, Texas and California, have more people; California covers 55 percent more recipients than New York.
* On a per-capita basis, New York spends more than twice its closest competitor, Pennsylvania.
But no serious observer suggests that New York's poor are healthier than those in Texas, California and Pennsylvania.
According to the Times, fraud and abuse may account for as much as a staggering $18 billion a year --- or 40 percent of New York's Medicaid tab.
* A dentist, Dolly Rosen, is accused of stealing more than $1 million through fraudulent claims.
* School officials billed for speech therapy for kids who weren't examined.
* Ambulette companies bill as much as $30 apiece for rides that are unnecessary, or could be provided by buses or taxis for a fraction of the cost.
Who's to blame for allowing fraud and abuse to reach such proportions?
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