How big is Medicare fraud — really? Up to $250 billion PER YEAR

In a May 2012 report, FBI special agent David Welker stated that the United States spends more than $2.5 trillion on health care annually and rough estimates show that anywhere from 3-10 percent of all health care expenditures are attributable to fraud. This means that the ANNUAL cost of fraud is from $75 billion to $250 billion. The Government Accounting Office reported that in 2011 Medicare and Medicaid paid out an annual $65 billion in improper payments. It defines improper as including payments made in error and not fraud but the lines is a thin one. The government is collecting some of this back through whistleblower cases taken under the False Claims Act which allows a whistleblower with undisclosed and direct information about fraud on the government to collect a share of what the government recovers. That trend is expected to continue to increase. Jeffrey Newman represents whistleblowers. If you are aware of Medicare fraud, report it.