There are 78 inspectors general toiling away in major federal departments and independent agencies, tasked with exposing waste, fraud and abuse in government.
Few of the IGs become public figures, even when, like Daniel Levinson, they and their staff have saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over the years.
Levinson is the IG at the Department of Health and Human Services, which means his first job is fighting Medicare and Medicaid fraud.
Two new reports from Levinson this week cast a disturbing spotlight on the depth and durability of corruption in federal health care spending.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., himself a medical doctor and the Senate's most devoted advocate of federal spending reforms, summarized what Levinson found:
"The reports show Medicare wasted $23 million in care on the deceased in 2011, $25 million on dead doctors between 2009-2011, and $29 million for prescription drugs to more than 4,000 unlawfully present beneficiaries between 2009-2011."
Really? 'Only' $77 million?
In a $3.5 trillion annual federal budget with a deficit of nearly $700 billion, a mere $77 million might seem like pittance.
But consider just a few things that $77 million could have been spent on instead of dead doctors and other corpses:
— $10,000 education scholarships for 7,700 at-risk kids to give them real hope for escaping inner-city poverty and crime to live rewarding, productive lives.
— 2.2 million flu shots for elderly people most vulnerable to death from the illness (at the $35 retail charge reported by Bloomberg for walk-ins at a commercial pharmacy like Walgreens).
— Provide luxury apartments for a year for 3,208 homeless people (at $2,000 per month rent for 12 months).
Via: Washington Examiner
Continue Reading.....
