While I’ve been ragging on Florida, the NY Times has noted something we’ve all known for a while — New York’s Medicaid fraud may reach into the billions. Given that New York’s Medicaid program spends more in total and way more per capita than California’s, the tricks going on within the system there have been going on a long time.
The Industry Veteran comments:
Of the $44.5 billion annually spent on the program, sources tell the Times that as much as 10% is diverted to fraud and abuse. I quote here what I consider to be the article’s key paragraph:
"The lax regulation of the program did not come about by chance. Doctors, hospitals, health care unions and drug companies have long resisted attempts to increase the policing of Medicaid. The pharmaceutical industry, which has spent millions of dollars annually on political contributions and lobbying in Albany, has defeated several attempts to limit the drugs covered by Medicaid; other states have saved hundreds of millions of dollars annually with such restrictions."
I can’t say that this is exactly surprising news and I eagerly look forward to indictments of numerous physicians, hospital administrators and pharmaceutical company vice-presidents. I have written before in THCB my opinion that a large percentage of physicians are amoral, sociopathic mafiosi who lack even the charm of a Tony Soprano. When these “made men” (and women) join forces with the truly narcissistic psychopaths who run our Big Pharma companies, corruption on a scale of the Tweed Ring remains inevitable. I can see why Frank Rich and others refer to the U.S. under George Bush as a new Gilded Age.
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George Bush? and New York Medicaid? Isn’t this a liberal Democratic welfare program? Isn’t NY run by Democrats and liberal Republicans? Isn’t George Bush cutting health care benefits? Wasn’t it Hillary Clinton who wanted universal health care? Remember the one elected in New York to the US Senate?
I’m a young man living in Boston with a 4 year college degree. I make 9$ an hour. No, I don’t live very well. Blame it on liberal arts. Reading things like this makes me want to crawl into a hole and die. I work my ass off, and there is no way in hell I could ever afford health insurance. I can barely pay my rent. Meanwhile, we have shit like this going on. Who the hell are these poor people riding paratransit, getting free CD players, and making cold cash by fueling supplies to drug dealers? Who the hell are these doctors and principals defrauding the system for more money then I will ever see in my life? Meanwhile, I’m out 700$ from an appendix scare that led me to an ER against my better judgement, much to my chagrin. This is all I have to say to the state of New York, Governor Pataki, and all the people who have willingly participated in Medicaid schemes – Fuck you, and I hope you die. I hope you lose your health insurance, and end up like the lower middle class–too poor for insurance, too rich for Medicaid. Yes, I’m angry. No wonder the federal government is cutting Medicaid up. Thanks New York, for ruining things for the rest of us.