Medicare: Fraud looms as big, nonpartisan problem

In all the fighting over health care reform, I haven’t heard one word about fighting Medicare fraud. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force says such fraud costs taxpayers $60 billion a year, which is about 10 percent of the Medicare budget.

Where is the outcry about this? Whatever your political persuasion, surely such a staggering loss should be a concern. Medicare needs to stop paying large claims without investigation.

Call your senators and representatives and ask why this is still going on and what steps they’re taking to stop it.

There should be much harsher penalties for perpetrating such fraud. Stopping this crime would certainly help pay for Medicare moving forward.

This story was originally published August 22, 2017 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Medicare: Fraud looms as big, nonpartisan problem."