Readers react to the Mass. Inspector General's findings of abuse of the free health care pool.
A family practice doctor at work in Seattle, Friday, Feb. 4, 2011.The Massachusetts Inspector General told the Boston Herald that the state’s Uncompensated Care Pool spent $414 million on emergency health care for nearly 1 million claims in 2009. The expenses “included $7 million for ineligible patients, such as nonresidents; $18 million for "medically unlikely" or "medically unnecessary" claims, such the X-rays and gynecological exams; and $6 million in duplicate claims,” according to an Associated Press article.
Here is what some of our readers had to say:
Massliveuser69 says: I thought everyone in Mass was required to have health ins. How could there be an uncompensated care claim this large? Especially since non-residents aren't eligible according to the article. I guess this is all for the small % of people who take the tax penalty rather than getting insurance?
Casualobserver says: No doubt fraud exists in the private insurance world (direct between customer and insurer), but to what degree? I don't have the data, but given my experience with insurance companies I would bet it is quite low. And what makes this especially noteworthy is the fact that a large argument by those who favor universal health care is the low cost of administration. Well, perhaps the trade off is higher levels of fraud. Six of one....?
Chase718 says: Follow the money. This is not the fault of the recipients. They have no control over the claims process. They must have some people there that are responsible for checking on whether a claim is valid. I would like to know who those people are. They all should be fired immediately. To assume that private companies do not have the same fraud problems, I disagree with. They can keep all their dirt secret. They make their employees sign confidentiality agreements. The Government is answerable to the people, that is why we even know about this. Insp. Gen. Sullivan ran to the Herald to tell the story, yet I didn't see anything regarding any fraud investigations by his office. This reads a little political to me. The HHSD policing itself? Give me a break.
Player01040 says: No. Nobody ever checks. Remember that story a while back about Masshealth claims that were bogus yet still were paid? The commonwealth should try to be a little more aggressive and sue to recover the money from the bogus claims and prosecute criminally the companies/people who submitted the bogus claims in the first place. A neighbor who has Masshealth had a chronic condition and had many doctor's appointments over the course of two years. In all that time he never got a bill or statement of any kind. From anywhere. It's easy to cheat and rob when you know nobody's watching.
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