Medicare overpaying hospitals

I’m sure we will discuss in class how the drug companies are acting unethical by gauging the prices of prescription drugs. I just wanted to mention another side of this, why Medicare is losing money and is not able help out more with the costs of prescription drugs.

In California, New York and Florida, independent auditors had found in 2006, $357.2 million in overpayments from Medicare to hospitals of which $247.4 million was returned to the Medicare Trust Fund. Now California members of the House this month are attempting to impede the recovery of hundreds of millions in overpayments to Medicare providers. They are trying to pass a bill stating that a moratorium be placed on the audit program. The bill appears to be nothing more than an attempt to shield hospitals in their district from having to repay the piper after years of receiving too much money from the Medicare system.

Despite Medicare officials’ pronouncements that the audits are a deterrent to fraud, these Representatives are lining up to gut the program before it rolls out nationwide even though hundreds of millions of dollars are being funneled back into the Medicare Trust Fund.

The ethical question is; Should these representatives be more interested in kowtowing to pressure from hospitals in their districts that billed for millions they were not entitled OR in shielding the Medicare program and taxpayers from huge losses.