NY Medicare A Fiscal Disaster Unto Itself

Paterson wants to cut a couple billion from the budget next year from a variety of programs. Yet if we just fix our state's Medicare program, we could get off to a good start in plugging that gap. The exact amount of what they waste over there isn't known for sure yet, but if what DiNapoli reported is systemic in their bureaucracy, we could be talking a lot of money.

From The NY Daily News:

In a pair of audits released Wednesday, DiNapoli slammed the state Health Department, which runs the $42 billion Medicaid program, for poor management of its electronic billing system and for allowing too many improper payments to get through.

One audit, which reviewed only a small segment of the automated system's functions, identified $437,655 in overpayments and another $5.5 million in payments that did not receive proper scrutiny.

Another audit found $1.8 million in overpayments to Medicaid providers for services that either already had been covered by the federally funded Medicare program or should have been.

DiNapoli thinks the waste runs into the tens of millions. The fact that nearly two million in overpayments were made is shameful considering it takes just a quick check to see if the Feds cover those bills. I can't even begin to imagine how much the money the state would save if all agencies were properly maintained, meaning carefully watching expenses and trimming the fat from everyone's budgets. The M.T.A. could save untold amounts of cash simply by getting rid of the Admins nobody needs.