Medicare Fraud Statistics

The healthcare industry is a sprawling structure in the United States. Medicare is a large portion of the healthcare industry, and it is made even larger because it is government funded. Medicare is very important because it provides health services to many elderly people who otherwise would not be able to afford and obtain health insurance and healthcare services. Unfortunately, though, there is tremendous fraud in the Medicare system. Statistics reveals the shocking extent of fraud present.

Of the entire Medicare budget, $465 billion is dedicated to fraud prevention. Of that entire budget, though, less 0.2 cents of every dollar are actually used to combat fraud, despite the fact that every dollar spent to fight fraud would prevent $10 worth of fraud.

These are staggering numbers, but so are the actual accounts of fraud. For example, in 2007 alone, the Medicare system made $10.8 billion in improper payments. In 2006, almost 30% of the claims that Medicare paid for durable medical equipment was incorrect. Even more appallingly, from 2000 to 2007, Medicare paid 478,500 claims to dead physicians; these claims totaled $92 million.

On top of all of this, Medicare and private health insurers pay $16 billion dollars annually for unnecessary tests that are ordered by doctors. In total, Medicare combined with Medicaid loses a total of at least $60 billion every year to fraud.

Medicare fraud specifically, and health insurance fraud in general, is bad because it raises healthcare costs for everyone. Higher medical costs, in turn, mean that fewer people can gain access to the healthcare that they need.

Contact Option 1 Health Insurance

Finding the right health insurance policy can be stressful because of the costs of health insurance. If you are searching for a Texas health insurance policy or plan, contact Option 1 Health Insurance today.