Medicare News Blog

Over $2 billion in national Medicare cuts could affect sick and dying people across the state.

Entitlement has become a bit of a swear word. In Washington, D.C., it’s technically a nonpejorative term for government programs like Social Security and Medicare that aren’t subject to the usual budget process.

CHICAGO, Aug. 26 — U.S. regulations require emergency care for a hospital to get Medicare and medicaid funding, but for the uninsured it’s a capricious system, researchers said.

How health insurers deny care; Medicare underestimated payment errors; and more.

Of the $9 billion spent each year on medical equipment, 28 percent is paid incorrectly, a report finds.

Medicare says it makes errors on 7.5 percent of claims for medical equipment. Inspectors say the rate is much higher.

The typical Medicare beneficiary can expect to see about a $3 increase in their monthly premiums for prescription drug coverage in 2009, federal officials said. The increase of 12 percent will up the monthly premium to $28 for standard drug coverage.

CMS has not conducted audits to ensure that Medicare prescription drug plans have implemented programs to prevent fraud as required by law, a lack of oversight that “risks significant misuse of funds in this $39 billion program,” according to a Government Accountability Office report scheduled for release on Monday, the AP/Orlando Sentinel reports. For the [...]

Electronic health transaction company ICSGlobal has filed a lawsuit against Medicare, accusing the Federal Government agency of anti-competitive behaviour over the development of an e-health medical transaction network called ECLIPSE.

The rate of improper payments, including fraud, in Medicare’s purchases of wheelchairs and other home medical equipment is significantly higher than the government has estimated, according to a federal audit released yesterday.

To the Editor:.

ST. LOUIS – Two St. Louis-area doctors and a nurse have been indicted on multiple charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. They are accused of working together to defraud Medicare and medicaid.

In 2007, about 3.4 million Medicare beneficiaries reached the so-called “doughnut hole,” or gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage, during which time they were responsible for their medication costs, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study released on Thursday, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Many people in Medicare with diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions stop taking their medicine when faced with picking up the entire cost of their prescriptions, researchers say.

Two newspapers recently published editorials that addressed an HHS Office of Inspector General draft report on Medicare fraud reduction. According to the report, CMS in 2006 based claims of a $700 million reduction in Medicare durable medical equipment fraud on improper auditing conducted by an outside contractor.