Last year, there were talks about cutting the budget of Medicare further down as our political leaders weigh its impact in modern day society. We are all against cutting down on the Medicare budget because it?s one of the basic social health services that we are all entitled to.
Social or health services are responsibilities of the federal government to provide. Social services cater to the basic needs of everyone, especially those who are having financial problems.
Without any health care services, a lot of our fellow citizens will suffer because not everybody can afford to be in a nice hospital. This goes to show that health care services are very important and if Medicare continues to be abused by the millions or billions of dollars every year, there is a threat of this social service to be pulled out.
Medicare fraud occurs when the service is charged or billed for procedures that were even done in the first place. This means Medicare is being overbilled.
Phantom billing is the most common type of Medicare fraud being committed. In phantom billing, charges are made for procedures, tests, and equipment that were never really made or ordered in the first place.
Other common Medicare fraud techniques are unbundling and code jamming. Code jamming means faking diagnosis codes are used to get coverage. Up coding on the other hand is faking codes and replacing them with higher costing codes to get extra coverage. Whereas in double billing, services done are charged more than one.
Scammers are the only people who benefit from Medicare fraud while everybody else loses. We, the health care system and the government altogether lose whenever Medicare fraud is committed. These scammers are taking away and stealing money from the national fund which mostly comes from the taxpayers.
Anybody can be a whistleblower as long as you have to guts. Whistleblowers can range from health care professionals to concerned citizens. As whistleblowers, we should keep ourselves updated with current Medicare news and types of Medicare fraud being committed. Go to the official site of Medicare to report Medicare fraud that you have witnessed. There is also the Medicare fraud hotline to report any dubious activity going on.
Medicare fraud is an ongoing national issue and we should all be responsible in fighting it. Be a whistleblower and click here to learn how to do a Report medicare fraud .
Source: http://newhealthandfitness.org/2012/02/23/battling-medicare-fraud/
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