New York City and State Agree to Repay U.S. for Improper Medicaid Claims

The New York Times reports:

New York State and New York City officials agreed this week to repay the federal government for more than half a billion dollars in improper Medicaid claims, averting a potential court battle but adding more red ink to the state’s and city’s finances.

The agreement also means that the whistleblower who reported the improper spending, a speech therapist, will receive $10 million of the amount repaid.

The settlement, which federal officials said was the largest recovery of Medicaid funds in history, ends a lengthy dispute with the federal government over whether school districts around the state improperly sought Medicaid payments for speech therapy and other services dating to the early 1990s.

The people who push government run health care are naive or dishonest, because government is incapable of saving money. What better proof than this? Without a profit incentive, large scale theft will occur.