Obama wants to raise taxes to expand Medicaid for the poor...shouldn't we close loopholes first?

Are you talking about the practice of retirees' spending down their assets so that they can qualify for a Medicaid nursing home? (Note to everyone out there: Yes, Medicare pays for healthcare for retirees, but long term care does not fall into that category. Long term care is only paid for by Medicaid.) And yes, I agree that those loopholes should be closed.

Sheltering assets for Medicaid is an extremely small part of Medicaid Fraud.

I investigated Medicaid Fraud for 28 years & the overwhelming majority of Fraud was commited by both Medicaid Providers ( Doctors, Pharmacies, etc. ) & Medicaid Recipients:

For example, I recalled the following instances of Fraud:

1.) I investigated cases involving Psychiatrists & discovered that some Psychiatrists were Billing Medicaid ( and getting paid for ) up to 29 hours of (45 minute ) Psychotherapy sessions in one day.

A 5th Grader knows that is mathmatically impossible but the government paid for it.

2.) I recalled another case in a Large City where a Pharmacy billed Medicaid for Millions & Millions of Dollars per year for virtually the same " medicine"

The pharmacy ran a scam with local junkies who obtained a prescription from a Doctor for AIDS medication which cost between $400 -$500. The pharmacy would fill the prescription & as the junkie exited the store and walked around the corner......a side door would open & a pharmacy employee would hand the junkie a ten dollar bill & the junkie would hand the bag back to the employee. The AIDS medication went back into stock & the pharmacy had the records/receipts needed to bill Medicaid for $ 400-$500.

3) I investigated another case where a Dentist opened his office from 10AM-Noon & had gypsy cabs bring 40 junkies per day to his office.

The Dentist then x-rayed each junkies mouth + gave each junkie ten dollars.

The Dentist billed Medicaid $ 350. per junkie/patient for the same ficticious dental work that he never performed.

In exchange for paying his " patients " a total of $ 400 per day to come to his office.....the Dentist received a check from Medicaid for $ 13,500. per day for 2 hours " work " for 18 months until he was apprehended & arrested.

4) Recipient Fraud is evidenced by that fact that patients often have multiple cards.

I once referred a case of recipient fraud where I had found a women with 21 Medicaid Cards under 21 different names with 21 different Medicaid I.D. numbers on them & they ALL had the same photo of this one woman on them

Both the Medicaid Providers & Medicaid Recipients often play a " game " to bilk the government out of Hundreds of Millions of Dollars.

Anyone who thinks that most Medicaid abuse results from lawyers helping others qualify through " shelters " is sadly mistaken.

The only time crooked Medicaid Providers & Recipients see an Attorney is when they enter a plea during their trial.

I agree-The medicaid program is highly abused as is the medicare program.In Illinois a doctor was caught on numerous occasions charging for "extended office visits" to recipients of both medicaid and medicare.This same doctor tried to bill an insured patient the same way--his insurance refused to pay and he was stuck with the additional fee. As it turned out,the insured man had a case worker who investigated and found that the billing code used for the "extended visit" was actually a billing code for the ER! what happened to the doctor? not a thing--he still practices today!

If we fixed the fraud occurring by not only Doctors and consumers--the people who actually need the help could get it! why are we providing free services to those without social security numbers? (IE illegals) why is there no accountability for social service agencies? I can tell you first hand--social service has nothing to do with how much you need--but rather--who you know..I worked in the field and saw first hand how "needs' are assessed.

Retirees utilize Medicare. Medicaid is for those in "poverty".

Instead of expanding, they should place limitations. The ER is for emergencies, not taking a kid in for an earache at a much higher cost to taxpayers than a visit to a doctor's office.

I know a woman on Medicaid who went to the doctor 4 times in 2 weeks. Cramps, sniffles, to remove a mole and even because of a hangnail. She laughs and says, "Well, it doesn't cost me anything." So taxpayers like me are footing the bill for nonsense far too often.

The wealthiest population should be required to pay more than your average retiree living on a fixed income when it comes to Medicare.

he's approximately ultimate loopholes and raising taxes on the wealthy, the two, no longer purely one. The Republicans are speaking approximately Medicare and Social protection, that paid into by making use of human beings, fairly punishing those least waiting to flow someplace else. raising the age devoid of taking into attention which you will no longer get a job over sixty 5 or scientific coverage over sixty is indicative of the lack of ability of expertise they have relating to the lives of undemanding human beings. do we easily prefer somebody who buys a seven million greenback homestead to have each and all the interest on that deducted? Or might desire to we eliminate it from the guy who buys one hundred thousand greenback homestead too? what's going to that do to whats left of the particular property pricing difficulty? in the long-term, when you consider that Boehner sent the Republicans homestead the day previous to this, its unlikely to count is it? according to possibility they might desire to stress approximately some image right here, theirs is fading quickly.

I agree that a lot of programs are abused, but even so, I would much rather spend our money in this country than send it overseas. Let's see there were billions of dollars of ours lost in the Soviet Union, Iraq is making billions on its oil while we are paying for everything with our money and our soldiers lives, money to Africa, etc, etc, etc.

At least although there are some who abuse the programs here, they are probably spending the money in the USA

Medicaid is for the poor, and in our case now it is the majority of immigrants that are now draining that. I think we do need to assess those that are on it and validate the people on it by checking their Social security records, birth certificates and place of residence checks every few months to be sure these are valid American citizens that really do need help not just a drain on the rest of us hard working individuals!

I couldn't agree with you more. This just plays in the whole "medicaid is for lazy people" crap. I'm so sick of seeing it.

My husband works two jobs and I also work. We still qualify for medicaid on our kids, but we have no health insurance for ourselves because we still can't afford it. I can tell you first hand we are not lazy...

The tax increase only affects less than 5% of the US population.. The tax increase will only be applied to those making $250,000 per year. So, I'm in favor of his plan. Let the majority rule!

My biggest problem is medicaid pays for abortions. I don't think tax payers should flip the bill because a women isn't responsible enough to take birth control or keep her legs closed. Medicaid also pays for a individual to have as many abortions as they chose. Ridiculous.