Pleeease, NOT profiling, just the "facts man, only the facts", many in line have $300 plus tatoos, hair extensions, designer fingernails, gold teeth etc..and now signing up for additional assistance...Ugh!...Wish there was a way to give families assistance that REALLY need help...Will there ever be a solution to this dilemma?

$150,000,000 in refunds. They have no source of income. They have the time to study how to submit phony returns that obviously pass the test of accuracy to a point where the checks are sent.
And the government knows about it. And what is being done? NOTHING.
Don't want to upset the felons and their families no doubt.

There are billions and billions of dollars of such waste happening every day. It is known and nothing happening.

Just another testimony to NO LEADERSHIP. And yes this has been going on through many administrations. It will take a non political solution to end the error prone application of well intended programs...therefore we can expect nothing to change.

I am not normally as negative as recent posts, but the performance of those elected to care for we the people has not only continued to deteriorate, but has fallen and continues to fall to new and lower lows.

btk

Billy is absolutely right about the government giving IRS refund checks to prison inmates. This is absolute fraud.

That does bring us to Medicare fraud - which rips the taxpayers out of billions of dollars every year.

When Rick Scott was CEO of his huge hospital consortium, it was charged and found guilty of massive Medicare fraud and paid a record fine of over a billion dollars - but less than it defrauded the government and taxpayers.

Rick Scott was CEO and said he knew nothing of the fraud. How plausible is that scenario? He then got a $330 million golden parachute when he was fired from being CEO - and got elected Governor of Florida! And we all laughed when Jesse (The Body) Ventura got elected Governor of Minnesota.

Originally Posted by Tbugs

Billy is absolutely right about the government giving IRS refund checks to prison inmates. This is absolute fraud.

That does bring us to Medicare fraud - which rips the taxpayers out of billions of dollars every year.

When Rick Scott was CEO of his huge hospital consortium, it was charged and found guilty of massive Medicare fraud and paid a record fine of over a billion dollars - but less than it defrauded the government and taxpayers.

Rick Scott was CEO and said he knew nothing of the fraud. How plausible is that scenario? He then got a $330 million golden parachute when he was fired from being CEO - and got elected Governor of Florida! And we all laughed when Jesse (The Body) Ventura got elected Governor of Minnesota.

Fraud and abuse of taxpayer monies on any every level needs to be stopped. Anytime you are handing out other people's money you aren't as careful handling the funds.

I'm interested to know what actual charges were brought against Scott and what charges he was convicted on. Half of the trouble with trying to solve problems are the politics and misinformation and propaganda that people put out there that is gobbled up, digested and then spit out.

I would want to be on board as a budget consultant assigned to Medicare and all it's finances.
I would work on a basis of being paid 1% of the REAL savings generated as a result of my analysis and cost reduction proposals.
I would have to have omnipotent authority to implement the proposals.

These are typical parameters for consultations who take contingent type assignments. I know, I have been there in corporate America.

However we all know that would never be allowed to happen in a political environment. As a result, there would be no savings. Hence just dreaming or talking out loud. Plus I would draw too much attention as I became the wealthiest individual on the government payrolls.

btk

Originally Posted by billethkid

I would want to be on board as a budget consultant assigned to Medicare and all it's finances.
I would work on a basis of being paid 1% of the REAL savings generated as a result of my analysis and cost reduction proposals.
I would have to have omnipotent authority to implement the proposals.

These are typical parameters for consultations who take contingent type assignments. I know, I have been there in corporate America.

However we all know that would never be allowed to happen in a political environment. As a result, there would be no savings. Hence just dreaming or talking out loud. Plus I would draw too much attention as I became the wealthiest individual on the government payrolls.

btk

No doubt about it! And no offense, don't take it personally please. But you would not have to be a financial genius to do it either. As a journalist, I did a story in the Clinton days, on Medicare fraud after the sweeping knee-jerk welfare reform.

While some of the changes were beneficial, so much more was needed. With just common sense a better solution could have come about. One example was this unbelievable but true story. There were people in a small coal mining county in east Tennessee operating Medicare/Medicaid taxi services.

They actually had a fleet of Lincoln Towncars they used, their business name painted elaborately on the sides, to transport Medicare and Medicaid recepients to and from doctors appointments, to the drug store, shopping etc. And this company was getting reimbursed very, very genersoulsy by us, the taxpayers.

The local state run Appalachian iniative program knew about it and when I interviewed some officials about the practice, I discovered the head of the agency was related to the owner of the Lincoln Towncar taxi service.

It happens all the time, in places all over the US. When you are spending other people's money, you just aren't as careful with it.

The phrase comes to mind. "We are not taxed too little, the government spends too much." And I might add wastes too much as well.

And yet some on this very forum still want to stick it to the rich. How about sticking it to the government for a change?

I think we just did that to a degree but I still don't think they get it. I know the Democrats in power don't.

BKCunningham - I never did say in my post that Rick Scott was found guilty or even charged in the Medicare fraud case. It was Columbia/HCA, the hospital consortium of which Scott was CEO that pled guilty and paid a $1.7 BILLION settlement.

Scott said he did not know anything of the fraud - and he was CEO.

I apologize to the voters of Minnesota for once laughing at them electing Jesse "The Body" Ventura as their governor.

I, for one, will always respect Jesse Ventura for one particular incident showing a behavior I have NEVER seen a politician perform.

He was coming out of the State House and some reporters had gathered around him - this was early afternoon. They asked a few questions and this one young woman piped up and asked him what he (Gov. Ventura) was going to do about financial aid for college students with infants.

Ventura's response was along the lines of "Why is it the government's responsibility to bail out irresponsible behavior?"

The girl was shocked and the reporters were *salivating* over this.

But a funny thing happened between the incident and the 6-o'clock news. Word got out on local talk radio and the callers calling into the radio stations were OVERWHELMINGLY in SUPPORT of Ventura's attitude!

Needless to say, the TV stations had to change the way they were planning on covering the story.