$6.7 billion in improper Medicare payments

USA Today reports:

Medicare paid out $6.7 billion in 2010 for health care visits that were improperly coded or lacked documentation, a report released Thursday found.

That's 21% of Medicare's total budget for diagnostic and assessment visits, according to the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general.

They found that 42% of diagnostic and assessment claims were improperly coded and 19% were improperly documented.

Yet, progressives complain about the profits health insurance companies make.