Medicare Defrauded of $92 Million, Paid for Equipment Prescribed by Doctors Who Were Dead

The Washington Post reports:

Medicare has paid as much as $92 million since 2000 to medical suppliers who billed the government for wheelchairs and other home equipment purportedly prescribed by physicians who, according to records, were dead at the time, congressional investigators said today.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) honored about 500,000 such fraudulent claims despite pledging six years ago to correct the problem, which was identified by the Health and Human Services Department's inspector general in 2001.

Do you think the government can run health care better than a private insurance company?