As we’ve documented before, one of the major selling points liberals deploy when arguing for socialized medicine is how much government run health care will save Americans in administrative costs. And it is true: Medicare does not spend nearly as much on oversight as private insurance does managing claims. But that lack of oversight comes with its own steep price tag: fraud. Congressional Quarterly reports: Nearly half of the 491 South Florida medical equipment companies kicked out of Medicare in 2007 on suspicion that they were fraudulent were let back …
As we’ve documented before, one of the left’s favorite arguments when pushing for single-payer health care is that, Medicare (a single-payer system) spends a lot less on administrative costs than private insurance does. And it is true: Medicare does spend a lot less on oversight of their many payments. But that lack of oversight comes with its own steep price tag: fraud. In 2006 top Medicare officials claimed they had reduced the number of fraudulent and improper claims paid by the agency. Now we find out that big government medicine …
One of the major points liberals deploy when arguing for socialized medicine is how much government run health care will save Americans in administrative costs. And it is true: Medicare does not spend nearly as much on oversight of their programs as private insurance does managing their claims. But then again, private insurance isn’t nearly as big of a sucker as Medicare is. The USA Today reports: Scammers have found a lucrative source for squeezing money from Medicare: dead doctors. Over seven years, the federal program for the elderly and …
The latest news out of Capitol Hill is that the Senate will take up legislation enacting a much needed update of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), pushing final passage of the mortgage bailout bill back until after the July 4th break. This should give Senators some much needed time to explore some of the seedier aspects of the bill, including the establishment of a National Housing Trust Fund that has long been the legislative Holy Grail for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). We’ve covered ACORN’s …
As bad as the incestuous relationship between Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) and Countrywide Financial is, it probably is not even the worst part of the housing bailout compromise in Congress. At least the Countrywide bailout would be a one-time theft of taxpayer money (although this bailout would increase risky behavior that will lead to future bailouts). But an arguably far worse portion of the compromise is the creation of a permanent low-income housing slush fund. As we have documented before, blatantly liberal partisan groups like the Association of Community Organizations …
Yesterday, The Guardian’s environment editor John Vidal reported on two new studies that show the UN’s clean development mechanism (CDM – an international system established by the Kyoto process that allows rich countries to meet emissions targets by funding clean energy projects in developing nations) is “being routinely abused by chemical, wind, gas and hydro companies.” Vidal writes: A working paper from two senior Stanford University academics examined more than 3,000 projects applying for or already granted up to $10bn of credits from the UN’s CDM funds over the next …
