Unchecked Medicare Fraud is Government Run Amok

[Geee]

Human Events:

In today’s world, federal agencies in the Obama era are the spending equivalent to Genghis Khan. So why is the administration dragging its to stop Medicare fraud and save the taxpayer billions?

 

Two words: Hospital. Lobby.

 

This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it was extending a “freeze” on the so-called “Two-Midnights” rule, the latest in a long series of delays.

Under the rule, doctors must expect patients to stay in the hospital for two days, or as they say, two “midnights,” in order to be eligible for Medicare Part A payments. While the technical details are complicated, it closes a billing loophole that netted hospitals billions of illegal payments before it was spotted by auditors.

It’s no surprise that since its enactment in 2013, the hospital lobby has poured millions into a lobbying campaign to water-down or kill the “Two-Midnight” rule, including targeting the auditing program that flagged the payments, simply because it is too effective. Imagine that?