President Barack Obama has pledged that more efficiency in the Medicare program will save taxpayers billions of dollars. Not if the agency's history of stopping waste and fraud is any guide.
Congressional investigators say the Medicare program's safeguards are a bad joke. For example, in 2007, private contractors investigating waste and fraud identified $835 million in "questionable" Medicare payments. Just $55 million - or 7 percent - of the total was recovered.
Clearly, Medicare needs to overhaul its system of cracking down on waste and fraud. Congress should demand reforms be put in place immediately.