wrote in message
...
On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:33:26 -0800, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:

You're right. They're not going to cut the entitlements. They're going
after
fraud, waste, and abuse.

The last president who had any success with that was Eisenhower.

I agree there is plenty of fraud waste and abuse in Medicare. Miami,
right across the swamp from me is ground zero for that.
The problem is, when you streamline administration and do what you can
to speed up payments you create loopholes a crook can drive a truck
through. One of the reasons insurance companies spend more for
administration is they spend more time processing claims and
investigating for fraud.
When they looked into the Miami fraud cases, what they found was the
government was paying the bill, then checking to see if it was valid.
By the time they figured out they were robbed, the crook was long
gone, packed up and moved down the road to scam them again under a
different name.

Personally I think we should have an exception to the "cruel and
unusual punishment" ban for people who steal from the government ;-)


Hard to argue with the latter, certainly.

I'm sure you would ;-)

I suppose I would disagree with it myself if it really came down to it
but I do think a lot of people are scamming the government and very
little ever happens to them.
Federal prisons are packed with pot farmers and scammers get a walk.


Well certainly, I was speaking metaphorically of course. It really burns me
up that some of the scammers get a walk... brings out the worst in me (and
I'm sure many). One of my friends defended a pot store during the previous
admin's Federal crackdown. It was really a sad case. They were just trying
to help people and barely making any money. The arrest/closure pretty much
ruined them financially.


--
Nom=de=Plume