Millions in waste clogging Medicaid

USA Today reports:

As Congress debates the government's role in health care, a report out today finds that state and federal officials failed to detect millions of dollars in Medicaid prescription-drug abuse.

An audit of the government program in five large states found about 65,000 instances of beneficiaries improperly obtaining potentially addictive drugs at a cost of about $65 million during 2006 and 2007 — including thousands of prescriptions written for dead patients or by people posing as doctors.

The report, by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), represents "an enormous opportunity to save money," says Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who has scheduled a hearing today on the findings.

When bills for the doctors' visits are added, along with the potential for Medicaid fraud in states not reviewed by the GAO audit, Carper said, "we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars."

Yet, some people are worried about private health insurance companies wasting money on advertising.