Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fraud and billing errors in the Medicare program cost the government an estimated $11.6 billion last year, a slight improvement over previous years, the agency that runs the program said Friday. The error rate - claims that were medically unnecessary, inadequately documented or improperly coded - was 5.8 percent, down from 6.3 percent the year before, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said. The error rate was as high as 13.8 percent in 1996. But the CMS report was immediately attacked by a Republican senator who asserted it understates the problem and is "not statistically valid."...

  Suddenly the big news is about exaggerated earnings, disguised liabilities and the deception of all sorts of fraudulent, off-budget shenanigans. But, this time they were not talking about government. The topic was misdeeds by the captains of corporations. Businessmen! What's going on here? Don't these guys understand that only governments may violate the law with impunity? The answer is both yes and no. If publicly traded businesses kept their books like the federal government does, few of the corporations on our stock exchanges would be worth much of anything. But, if "generally accepted accounting practices" are what the law...